TUpac: Theme Unpacker

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • The Problem
  • The Solution
• Using TUpac
• Install TUpac

Introduction

TUpac is a “package manager” for KDE Plasma themes. It is able to install and manage many kinds of Plasma themes with minimal user effort required.

The Problem

KDE Plasma uses a multitude of different kinds of themes. It is unpleasant to have to keep track of all of these themes, especially when installing a new one; you have to use the built-in Discover modules in System Settings—​which are notably buggy & error-prone—​and if the theme(s) you are looking for aren’t available there, you have to visit the KDE Pling store and manually extract the themes yourself!

This process is much less than user-friendly—​in fact, it should not be left up to the user at all! Additionally, most actual "desktop themes" are in reality a combination of seven or eight different types of Plasma theme—​a distinction which is confusing and unnecessary to make. It is likely that the complications associated with the installation and management of desktop themes on Plasma are what drive many newcomers away from KDE software and even Linux-based operating systems in general.

The Solution

TUpac aims to solve this issue with a system called ThemePackage. ThemePackage is an open specification (see spec.md for the current version of the spec) for a packaging system to combine multiple Plasma theme components into a single, unified package. This package can then be installed and managed as a single entity, eliminating the need for users to deal with individual theme components manually. This will increase usability and user-friendliness across the board for users of Plasma desktops, and enable them to more fully enjoy Plasma’s rich and flexible theming system.

Using TUpac

How to install a theme with TUpac

1. First, you must ensure that TUpac is installed and configured on your computer. To do this, follow the instructions in the [_install_tupac] section.

2. Then, download a ThemePackage-compliant package file (referred to as a tpackage file or a tpackage due to its .tpackage file extension). A repository of tpackages can be found in the REPOSITORY/ directory of this GitHub repo.

3. Now, run tupac <footheme>.tpackage replacing <footheme> with the name of your tpackage file.

4. When the confirmation prompt appears, enter Y.

5. Go to System Settings → Themes and, in each of the subsections, apply the newly-installed themes.

Install TUpac

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