Qutar v 0.98_2

This is the documentation for Qutar. The program very simply tars and untars files for you in a graphical enviroment, rather than the cumbersome commandline interface that tar usually has.

Being revision 2 of 0.98, it is more stable than the previous one, has better functionality and fewer bugs.


Requirements:


Ok, now that we have that cleared out of the way, let's start the little tour of Qutar. The name does not really mean anything other than that I thought it would be an ok name for a program that tars for you.


The main window in Qutar

This is how it looks. Very simple indeed, so simple in fact, that you are probably already able to guess what the different buttons do. And I think you are right, but I will go through them here for your convenience:

So, let's go through some of this then, and show you how simple it is to create a new tar.gz file with Qutar.


Qutar with a few files selected

Ok, first of, we need to select files. Just click on the files you want to select, or drag the mouse downwards if you have several files. The windows allows you to have multiple selection. Once you have selected the files you want, press the "->" arrow, and the files will be transferred to the selected box.

Moving files from the selected box is done by selecting the file, and choosing the "<-" arrow.


Qutar with the files we selected now moved over into the selected box

Next we click on the "Create" button. A new dialog crops up:


The "Create" dialog box

Here you select where you want to store your new archive, and also what name to give it. Note that you do not have to fill in .tar.gz, Qutar does that for you. All you have to to is give it a clever name.


What are you going to call your new folder????

If you want to create a new folder to store your file in, then go ahead and do so. Qutar will create the folder with the name you give it.


Naming the file

Once you have found a suitable location for your file, tap in its filename and click the "Create" button. With (almost) lightening speed, Qutar creates the archive for you. Could it be simpler?


Qutar has now created a tar file archive for you

And that's it really. Very simple, very smooth, and convenient. Which is the aim of this program.


The right mousebutton menu

If you want to extract a file, you can select it and click "Unpack", or you can right click on the file and "Hey presto!", you get a menu. From the menu you can easily view a file or extract the file.


Viewing the contents of a file

In the above picture, we have chosen to view the contents of the archive we just created, just so you can see how it is done.

Unpacking files work in about the same way, choose the file, and click the "Unpack" button, or right click on the file, and then choose "Extract to". In both cases, a new dialog box that looks more or less like the create box will present itself, and you can choose where you want to unpack the files.

Know though, that if you have several files selected, Qutar will not unpack all of them, just the last one found. This functionality will be added in the next version.


Issues solved in this version

  • The filelisting is no longer peculiar
  • Checks for locked folders and files, and does not let you select these for packing. If you try and unpack (or list) a locked file, Qutar will merely report that this file is not an archive
  • Icons updated
  • Filter for the filelisting added


  • Known problems / issues to be resolved

  • It assumes that you have gzip, tar, bzip2 and zip already installed, does not check if you have them.
  • It uses a temp file to store results from tests and other things in, so be sure to have write access to where you are.
  • If you want to be nasty, you can enter a directory and delete that directory, this will completely confuse Qutar.
  • There is no progressbar or indication that something goes on.


  • New things to be added in the next release / wishlist

  • Progressbar
  • Multiple archive administration
  • Neater listing in the view window
  • Other than the listed issues, there is should be no main problems. But it's still only 0.98 rev 2. The code is neater and better this time, though there is still a couple of things that is lacking.