User guide

User guide

In this page you will learn how to install CKAN and use it to install your first mod. Please note that CKAN is still under active development, and the information on this page might be out of date.

The CKAN client is heavily inspired by the many package management utilities available on unix platforms: you might be already familiar with one of them.

Installing the client

Installing the client is very easy: just head to the our releases and download the latest version of ckan.exe.

You don't have to worry about platforms: CKAN is built using Mono, so it will work the same on Windows, Mac or Linux. Even though it's a .exe file, it will still work, thanks to Mono!

Note: Mono, like .Net, runs on a VM platform similar to (and inspired by) JVM. Mono executables will run on any platform that has Mono installed, just as Java executables can be run on any platform that a JVM is present. To illustrate this, running ckan.exe may be performed with mono ckan.exe, but it is not required by most systems.

Just place the executable in any folder you like: the client can manage all your KSP installations from anywhere on your disk, so you don't have to worry about its location.

NOTE: If you're running Ubuntu 14.04 please check out our Installing CKAN on Ubuntu 14.04 guide. NOTE: If you're running OSX please check out our Installing CKAN on OSX guide.

Using the client

There are two ways to use the client:

• using the GUI;
• using the command line;

While the GUI is certainly the easiest option, advanced users might feel more comfortable using the command line. The stable releases do not support the GUI so far, so you'll have to use the experimental releases if you really want one.

Using the GUI

To open the GUI, just run the executable you have downloaded with no arguments to bring up the window. From here you can:

• see all the available packages;
• click on a package to see its description: author, version, license, relationship with other packages, and more;
• manage and launch any KSP installation.

When you first launch CKAN, it will scan your system to find your KSP installation directory: if for any reason it's unable to find it on its own, or if you want to manage another installation, you can just add another from the dialog window.

The first thing you will want to do is to click the "Refresh" button: this will update CKAN's registry from the online repository to refresh the list of available mods and updates.

To install (or remove) a mod, just tick (or untick) the corresponding checkbox: don't worry, CKAN will not actually do anything until you click the "Apply all changes" button, and even then you will be asked to review the list of changes. All the necessary dependencies have already been selected for you: all the mods you install will work out of the box!

Should anything go wrong during the installation, CKAN will make sure to revert the status of the GameData directory to its previous state, so don't worry about ruining your installation!

If one or more of the mods you are installing also recommends or suggests that you install other packages you will be shown a series of dialogs where you can select them: all of these are optional, so feel free to choose what you like and ignore the rest.

Using the CLI

Advanced users might like the command line more. If you have already used package managers like pacman or apt-get, you will find ckan familiar.

To run any command, just type

ckan.exe <command>

on your terminal. Note that ckan, like many other package managers, does not run in an interactive session: each command is a self-contained operation.

Here are the commands you will need the most:

• ckan.exe update: refreshes the master list from the CKAN-meta repository, allowing you to find new mods and updates for the packages you have installed.
• ckan.exe scan: scans your GameData folder to find mods that you have installed or removed manually.
• ckan.exe available: lists all the mods available for installation via CKAN.
• ckan.exe show <identifier>: shows information about a mod, such as author, version, and dependencies.
• ckan.exe install <identifier>: installs a package and all its dependencies.

To see the full list of available commands, just run

ckan.exe help

Known errors

• On attempting to start the program an error message is recived which contains 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Windows.Forms,'

  This can be caused by mono being installed without the full set of libraries. A solution for Debian distros is to install the mono-complete package by use of the command

  • sudo apt-get install mono-complete

If you have any trouble, remember that we are happy to help you on the IRC channel!