Krusader is an open source and cross-platform twin-panel file manager that aims for capabilities similar to Total Commander or Midnight Commander applications. It was originally created for the KDE (K Desktop Environment) project, but it’s compatible with many other desktop enviroments/window managers.
Features at a glance
Key features include extensive archive handling, support for file content comparisons, support for a wide range of archive formats, directory synchronization, mounted file system support, a text viewer and editor, advanced batch renaming, as well as an advanced search module.
In addition, the program is capable of handling KIO slaves, such as smb:// or fish://, supports mime-type, multiple file systems, bookmarks, and drag and drop, file transfer support via FTP or SFTP protocols,
Among the currently supported archive types, we can mention tar, gzip, bzip2, deb, rpm, arj, ace, rar and zip. Some ot the software’s functionality depends on various external tools, which will be automatically added when the application starts for the first time.
Under the hood and supported OSes
While the program is written entirely in the C++ programming language, its graphical user interface requires the cross-platform and modern Qt GUI toolkit. It is fully compatible with several UNIX-like operating systems, including GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS X.
Availability
It can be downloaded via Softpedia or from the project’s homepage as a source archive, allowing the user to configure, compile and install the application in a wide range of operating systems. However, the best way to install Krusader on your GNU/Linux platform is to uses the packages from the official software repositories.
Bottom line
Summing up, Krusader looks like a user-friendly, fully customizable and fast file manager that uses the classic and productive two-panel layout. It works best on KDE, but it can also be used on GNOME or Xfce if all requirements are met.
