Ark compression with dolphin bad configured.

In order to fix this, I have edited file:
/usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus/ark_compress.desktop
Now user can type the name and format of his archive, and all files or folder are archived as an unique archive.
I am attaching my file, so someone can use it.

 To get your fix included in Ubuntu, try transforming it into a debdiff (http://wiki.ubuntu.com/PackagingGuide/Recipes/Debdiff) and submitting it for review (http://wiki.ubuntu.com/SponsorshipProcess).

Yup, I can contest that this bug sucks

I uploaded a fixed servicemenu, really it fix the bug, but it seems the developers/manteiners do not pay much attention to this bug, or they hope for we to do all work to fix this bug, when it should be done by them and not by common users who report bugs.

I have made some changes in dolphin sources, here is my changelog:

dolphin (0.9.2-0ubuntu6.1) hardy; urgency=low

  * Non-maintainer upload.
  * Modified ark_compress.desktop servicemenu:
   -Closes LP #185795
   -Now users can type the name for his archive and select format (zip, gzip, tar...).
   -Patch kubuntu_07_ark_contextmenu.diff removed, it is not necessary now.
   -Patch kubuntu_03_enable_compress.diff removed, it is not necessary now.
   -compress.desktop servicemenu removed, it is not necessary now.
  * Added many translations to amarok_append.desktop:
   -Actions are now available in many additional languages.
  * Modified run_as_root.desktop.
   -Added Spanish translation to "Run as root" action.
  * Modified d3lphin_su.desktop.
   -Added Spanish translation to "Open as root" action.

I am going to attach debdiff with my changes, i hope for you like it.
I also have made a rebuild .deb, if someone want to use it.

Is this symptom still reproducible in 8.10 or 9.04?

There isn't even an 'Action' context menu in 8.10. So we have even less functionality available in 8.10. The only context menu relevant is 'Open With...', and when you dig through the applications to indicate 'Ark', it just opens Ark but Ark is just blank, completely ignorant of the files you tried to pass in. Nice.

The service menus are back in KDE 4.2, but unfortunately trying to compress multiple files at once spits out an empty archive. Should probably be reported upstream against Ark. (Since it supplies the servicemenus in KDE4)

This is fixed for me in Kubuntu 9.04.

Fixed by upstream in KDE 4.2.0.