# Is Ark a wrapper for rar?

**URL:** <https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** plasma, ark, dolphin\
**Created:** [March 16, 2024, 11:18am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451 "2024-03-16T11:18:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bedna](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bedna](https://discuss.kde.org/u/bedna)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 11:18am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/1 "2024-03-16T11:18:48Z")

</div>

Before making a bug report, I should ask.

I use rar for a specific set of files (it has to be rar).  
Rar was not part of the types Ark could handle at install, but manually installing rar made me able to, in Dolphin, **right click a file \> compress \> compress to…**  
That way I could select rar and it worked flawlessly.

In plasma 6 however, doing that only shows a “success” window, but no file is created.  
 ![image](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/uploads/default/original/2X/5/522593fdfbc965e287b9d360847c42d1ef50383e.png)  
Using rar in cli works without problem.  
Ie: `rar a archive.rar files_to_compress`

Using other compression methods in Ark work as well.

Since there is no error, I am not sure how to provide useful information for a bug report.

Please advice.

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**Author:** ![meven](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/meven/32/1748_2.png) [@meven](https://discuss.kde.org/u/meven)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 11:23am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/2 "2024-03-16T11:23:18Z")

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> [@bedna](#):
>
> Since there are no error, I am not sure how to provide useful information for a bug report.

A bug is characterized by a unexpected outcome, this is a bug.

What you provided here is already good enough, a version and how to reproduce the bug with its symptoms. That’s all the information needed to fix the issue.

You can report that to [bugs.kde.org](http://bugs.kde.org) for the ark application

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bedna](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bedna](https://discuss.kde.org/u/bedna)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/3 "2024-03-16T11:28:47Z")

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~~Preferred for Ark or Dolphin?~~  
Yeah, I’ll just go hide in the corner and cry for a while… xD

Bug reported: [483748 – compressing using rar does not work](https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=483748)

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**Author:** ![rockandstone](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@rockandstone](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rockandstone)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 12:11pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/4 "2024-03-16T12:11:33Z")

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In the meantime you can choose RAR5 compression method in the dropdown, this works.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bedna](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bedna](https://discuss.kde.org/u/bedna)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/5 "2024-03-16T12:16:04Z")

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I don’t have that… Is that a plugin I can get somewhere?

I marked the bug as “normal” since I just open a terminal in Dolphin and type `rar a`, but it IS a slower workflow so if there is a workaround I would appreciate it.

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**Author:** ![rockandstone](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@rockandstone](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rockandstone)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/6 "2024-03-16T12:31:52Z")

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I don’t think I ever did anything else than just installing `rar`. I got it from the Arch User Repository [AUR (en) - rar](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/rar) which points to the latest version of [https://www.rarlab.com](https://www.rarlab.com). You sure you don’t see something like this?

![image](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4884ab00306458a620823495e2ac2630b0d1ef0c.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bedna](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bedna](https://discuss.kde.org/u/bedna)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/7 "2024-03-16T12:43:42Z")

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Yeah, I installed it from AUR too.

```auto
$ pacman -Qii rar

Name : rar
Version : 7.00-1
Description : A command-line port of the rar compression utility.
Architecture : x86_64
URL : https://www.rarlab.com
Licenses : custom
Groups : None
Provides : unrar
Depends On : gcc-libs
Optional Deps : None
Required By : None
Optional For : ark mc okular
Conflicts With : rar-beta unrar
Replaces : None
Installed Size : 1466,56 KiB
Packager : Unknown Packager
Build Date : 2024-02-29T13:53:39 CET
Install Date : 2024-02-29T13:53:47 CET
Install Reason : Explicitly installed
Install Script : No
Validated By : None
Backup Files :
UNMODIFIED /etc/rarfiles.lst

```

That is very odd…

No, wait, you are under the compression sub-menu, YOU ARE CORRECT!!  
Thank you!! ❤

Now the question is, how do I make that standard so I don’t have to do that every time. 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rockandstone](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@rockandstone](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rockandstone)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:46pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/8 "2024-03-16T14:46:59Z")

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> [@bedna](#):
>
> Now the question is, how do I make that standard so I don’t have to do that every time.

Dunno, maybe it reads some config file that you could try out, otherwise it could be another bug report about how it doesn’t remember the last selected option 😉

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bedna](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bedna](https://discuss.kde.org/u/bedna)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/9 "2024-03-16T15:30:20Z")

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I just added the info as a comment on the initial report.  
Most likely RAR4 that no longer works for some reason that is causing this issue in the first place.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rebelquack](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/rebelquack/32/8598_2.png) [@rebelquack](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rebelquack)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 7:07am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/10 "2024-03-17T07:07:02Z")

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> [@bedna](#):
>
> I use rar for a specific set of files (it has to be rar).

> [@meven](#):
>
> What you provided here is already good enough, a version and how to reproduce the bug with its symptoms. That’s all the information needed to fix the issue.

The following is an extract from the ‘whatsnew.txt’ file in the official RarLabs rar 7.0.0 package:

> [@](#):
>
> 1. Creating archives in RAR 4.x format isn’t supported anymore. Options and switches specific for this format are removed. It doesn’t affect RAR 4.x archives decompression, which is included into RAR.

RarLabs have removed the ability to _compress_ using RAR4 compression; and so when RAR4 compression is selected (currently the default for KDE/ARK), the action fails. The default compression needs to now be RAR5 and the ability to select RAR4 should be removed.

I have added a note after Bedna’s bug report; to hopefully clarify the situation and possibly save wasted time for whosoever is assigned to the task.

This has been my first KDE Discuss post; welcome to me.

Cheers.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bedna](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bedna](https://discuss.kde.org/u/bedna)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 7:28am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/11 "2024-03-17T07:28:00Z")

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> [@rebelquack](#):
>
> This has been my first KDE Discuss post; welcome to me.

Welcome and THANK YOU for that! ❤

**edit**  
I just checked the bug report. Hejsan där… xD  
I have pretty much left that forum for… reasons… I only read the release posts and report if I find a bug or something. ☹

Again, thank you for the clarification.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![meven](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/meven/32/1748_2.png) [@meven](https://discuss.kde.org/u/meven)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 8:08am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/12 "2024-03-17T08:08:29Z")

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> [@rebelquack](#):
>
> This has been my first KDE Discuss post; welcome to me.

Welcome to you, nice research, very helpful.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rebelquack](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/user_avatar/discuss.kde.org/rebelquack/32/8598_2.png) [@rebelquack](https://discuss.kde.org/u/rebelquack)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 8:22am UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/13 "2024-03-17T08:22:59Z")

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> [@meven](#):
>
> Welcome to you, nice research, very helpful.

Thanks for commenting, though it was only logical progression, really:

- recent critical security bugs in RAR;
- RAR4 compression due to be dropped in the foreseeable future, regardless;
- new RAR version 7.x released ahead of schedule;
- check _“what’s new”_…

Cheers. 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Angus](https://discuss-cdn.kde.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Angus](https://discuss.kde.org/u/Angus)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://discuss.kde.org/t/is-ark-a-wrapper-for-rar/12451/14 "2024-03-17T20:40:04Z")

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re: pull request - the whole `-ma[45]` thing has gone from options too - rar.txt

```auto
~> diff rar622.txt rar700.txt 
...
...
1215,1216c1182
< This switch is supported only by RAR 5.0 format, so you
< need to use -ma switch with it.
---
> This switch is supported only by RAR 5.0 format.
1224c1190
< rar a -ma -htb lists.rar *.lst
---
> rar a -htb lists.rar *.lst
1413,1424d1378
< -ma[4|5]
< Specify a version of archiving format.
< 
< By default RAR creates archives in RAR 5.0 format.
< Use -ma4 to create RAR 4.x archives.
< Use -ma5 or just -ma in case you need to override -ma4 saved
< in configuration and force RAR to use RAR 5.0 format.
< 
< This switch is used only when creating a new archive.
< It is ignored when updating an existing archive.
< 
<
...
...

```

> <https://github.com/KDE/ark/blob/3fa7d4fd7074917189647a5bb4f32c09bff8779e/plugins/clirarplugin/cliplugin.cpp#L87>