KDE/KDE4

From openSUSE

KDE 4.1 released / KDE 4.2 in development

KDE4 currently refers to either KDE 4.0 (released as part of openSUSE 11.0), KDE 4.1 (as it will be released with openSUSE 11.1) or KDE 4.2. KDE 4.2 is currently under development and expected to be released in the 1st Quarter of 2009. KDE 4.1 is released and should be usable.

Current Status

• KDE 4.1.x: The KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop Build Service project contains KDE 4.1 packages. They are currently under development for openSUSE 11.1. Feedback is highly appreciated. Use this repo if you want to run 4.1 packages on openSUSE 10.3 or 11.0 before openSUSE 11.1 gets released.
• KDE 4.0.x: The KDE:KDE4:STABLE:Desktop Build Service project contains KDE 4.0.4 packages, for installation/update see below. These packages are as current as possible and contain some openSUSE customisations, to make it easy to identify KDE 3 applications in the Kickoff start menu, for example.
• KDE 4.1.6x (unstable): The KDE:KDE4:UNSTABLE:Desktop Build Service project contains KDE 4.2 development snapshots. They are considered highly experimental and might not work. Use with care.
• Live CD: KDE Four Live is a frequently updated Live-CD containing the above packages. The latest release includes KDE 4.1.
• openSUSE 11.0 contains currently the KDE 4.0.4 packages (identical to KDE:KDE4:STABLE:Desktop).
• openSUSE Factory contains currently the KDE 4.1.x packages (identical to KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop).
• openSUSE 10.3: The openSUSE 10.3 CD and DVD and default repositories were released containing a preview of KDE 4. At that time, the KDE Team worked on the base technologies of KDE 4 and finaly split the packages into platform, desktop and apps. openSUSE 10.3 offers by default a KDE3 desktop with single KDE4 application. openSUSE 10.3 can be updated to a newer KDE4 using the Build Service (see below).

Safety Advice :-)

Our KDE4 packages use ~/.kde4 for storing settings and data. KDE 3 applications continue to use ~/.kde, even if used within KDE4 workplace.

If you have edited your .profile or .bashrc to change KDEHOME both KDE 3 and KDE 4 applications will share the same config files. This will enable KDE 4 applications to 'upgrade' config files they find but KDE 3 applications will probably be unable to use the updated files.

Package Naming

The packaging of KDE4 is more fine-grained than with KDE3. For applications it's now kde4-<appname>, the kde4- prefix is supposed to stay as long as an application is not considered stable enough for daily usage and to avoid confusion with the KDE3 equivalent. The module packages (with the exception of kdelibs4 and kdebase4) are usually empty and exist only because of the corresponding debuginfo packages. They suggest all packages which are created from them for installation. The naming and splitting of the packages is not yet final, e.g. applications still enter or leave KDE modules and packages may have to be renamed to conform to the latest openSUSE package naming policies, like the one for libraries.

KDE 3 and KDE 4

The KDE4 packages install into the /usr prefix, so KDE3 and KDE4 can safely be installed at the same time. On openSUSE 10.2, single files of packages not marked as conflicting may conflict, but you can usually safely ignore those file conflicts.

To prevent the accidental starting of KDE4 applications within a KDE3 session add at the top of /opt/kde3/bin/startkde

If you are using another window manager then adding this line to the .bashrc file should also load the correct applications.

This has been already done in the Factory and KDE:KDE3 packages which also contain some other minor patches for better co-existence with KDE4 (may need to run kbuildsycoca --noincremental once to become fully active).

Installation

Build Service Project (KDE 4.0.x)

The KDE:KDE4:STABLE:Desktop Build Service project offers KDE 4.0.x packages as they were released for openSUSE 11.0.

Click on one of these One Click Install files to install the required packages and optionally register the repository for future. If you get a message that dependencies cannot be resolved, enter the "Advanced Mode" of the one-click handler and enable the "standard" online repository of your distribution.

Version: 11.0

Or you can choose to install a more basic KDE 4 desktop. Developers can also optionally install the KDE 4 build dependencies: all the packages you need to have installed for compiling KDE 4.0 from source (experts only).

Version: 10.3

Or you can choose to install a more basic KDE 4 desktop. Developers can also optionally install the KDE 4 build dependencies: all the packages you need to have installed for compiling KDE 4.0 from source (experts only).

Version: Factory

Or you can choose to install a more basic KDE 4 desktop. Developers can also optionally install the KDE 4 build dependencies: all the packages you need to have installed for compiling KDE 4.0 from source (experts only).

Factory KDE Project (KDE 4.1.x)

The KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop Build Service project offers KDE 4.1.x packages as they are currently under development for openSUSE 11.1. They should be mostly usable, but have bugs. Feedback is highly appreciated. Especially testing for regressions over the STABLE repository is recommended.

Click on one of these One Click Install files to install the required packages and optionally register the repository for future. If you get a message that dependencies cannot be resolved, enter the "Advanced Mode" of the one-click handler and enable the "standard" online repository of your distribution.

Version: 11.0

Or you can choose to install a more basic KDE 4 desktop. Developers can also optionally install the KDE 4 build dependencies: all the packages you need to have installed for compiling KDE 4.1 from source (experts only).

Version: 10.3

Or you can choose to install a more basic KDE 4 desktop. Developers can also optionally install the KDE 4 build dependencies: all the packages you need to have installed for compiling KDE 4.1 from source (experts only).

Version: Factory

Or you can choose to install a more basic KDE 4 desktop. Developers can also optionally install the KDE 4 build dependencies: all the packages you need to have installed for compiling KDE 4.1 from source (experts only).

KDE 4 UNSTABLE Repository -- Bleeding Edge

The KDE:KDE4:UNSTABLE:Desktop Build Service project contains unstable KDE Devel packages -- snapshots of current trunk/. These are provided as-is and are considered experimental and bleeding edge. Feedback is appreciated though.

Starting KDE4

After installation you will find a new session type "KDE4" at your login manager for starting a full KDE4 session. So if you have autologin enabled, you have to logout, pick your username and the session type from the menu at the bottom of the login-screen and type your password.

Compiling from Source

To compile KDE4 from source code, follow KDE/Developing/Guide.

• openSUSE specific instructions
• Instructions for building KDE4.

Performance Issues

• KWin 4.0 Release Notes
• There seems to be an issue with the fglrx driver and KDE4, which causes windows to be painted/repainted very slow on KDE4, while this does not occur on KDE3. It doesn't matter if compositing effects are turned on or off in KDE4. Using the free radeon or radeonhd drivers seems not to cause such performance problems. You may have to blacklist the 'fglrx' driver in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist, to prevent it from being loaded automatically on bootup. If you change your xorg.conf to use the radeon or radeonhd driver, but the fglrx module is still loaded (even if it is no used) you might encounter those performance problems in KDE4.

Most Annoying Bugs

Please note that some issues may be resolved already. Check for system updates first.
For more information, check the KDE Bug Tracking system; the most hated bugs and the most severe bugs

KDE 4.0.4

• Okular can't print to a regular printer. Workaround: install Kpdf.
• From time to time, Kwallet is not accesible by other apps such as Konqueror or Kontact. When that happens, Konqueror rejects cookies. Workaround: logout and log back in.
• Konqueror does not support importing bookmarks from Firefox and possibly other Web browsers. All your bookmarks on Konqueror are erased if you try to import bookmarks from other Web browsers. Workaround: N/A.
• Dolphin does not support fish URLs. Workaround: use Konqueror.

KDE 4.1.x

• Printing support for KDE4 applications is still very basic: printer settings can be changed but are not persistent. Regardless of the printer type they default to "no duplex", "color printing", and default margins.
• Mounted Samba shares cause Dolphin and Konqueror to freeze when the view type is changed or file-preview is toggled.
• The KDE4 File Save As dialog does not allow to select an existing file in order to change the filename slightly or append something for Save As. Instead, it tries to overwrite the selected file right away. This also happens in a double-click environment.
• The same holds for the File Open dialog where it no longer possible to select several files at once, in order to open them in e.g. Kate or other applications which support this.
• The desktop feels very slow on most NVidia graphics cards. This is due to a bug in their proprietary driver and might change with a new release.

See Also

• What features is KDE4 missing when compared to KDE3
• KDE/Ideas/11.1