SIGs/KDE/KDE4FAQ: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:59, 8 March 2009

Suggested move
It has been suggested by Ian Weller to move or rename this page to "KDE 4 FAQs".

Fedora/KDE4 FAQ

Why didn't you wait for KDE 4.1 before making it default KDE in Fedora 9?

QT 3, the underlying toolkit for KDE 3 has been unmaintained from July 2007. KDE 4.1 release is soon after the Fedora 9 release. If KDE 4.0.3 wasn't introduced in Fedora 9, updating to KDE 4.1 post release is difficult and disruptive. Providing the latest software to Fedora users and supporting upstream projects such as KDE is among the Fedora objectives .

Will KDE 3 be released for Fedora 9 and later?

Fedora 9 does not include a complete KDE 3 desktop nor the KDE 3 versions of applications which are included in KDE 4, such as Konqueror. What is provided:

compatibility libraries and a compatibility development platform, allowing to build and run KDE 3 applications. These will stay as long as needed, probably for several years.
in Fedora 9, KDE 3 versions of modules not available or missing their main application in KDE 4.0: kdepim (not in 4.0), kdevelop (not in 4.0, 4.1 nor 4.2), kdewebdev (no Quanta in 4.0, 4.1 nor 4.2). kdepim has been replaced by the version from KDE 4.1 in Fedora 10 (and 4.2 in Fedora 10 updates). KDevelop will probably be replaced by a KDE 4.3 version starting from Fedora 12, the status of Quanta is still uncertain.
several third-party KDE 3 applications: third-party applications such as K3b will continue to be shipped in KDE 3 versions as long as the KDE 4 version is not ready. In future versions of Fedora, these will be gradually replaced by KDE 4 versions as they become available. For example, Fedora 10 now includes KDE 4 versions of Amarok and Digikam.
a kdegames3 package containing the KDE 3 games not available in the KDE 4 kdegames. These are expected to become less over time.

Why not? Can't you install both KDE 3 and KDE 4?

In short, no. Upstream does not support this configuration.

But, but, other distros are doing it.

True, while theoretically possible to do, it involves what we consider pervasive hacks including (at least) violating the FHS and/or installing into separate prefixes/roots, and additional hacks to make both KDE3/KDE4 environments not stomp on each other. None of these things we would willingly want to even try to fix and support, nor to inflict upon our userbase.

Have we mentioned that upstream doesn't support it? :)

How does that new desktop work? How do I fix it if got messed up for some reason?

Please refer to the Plasma FAQ at KDE UserBase.

Why is Compiz not installed by default in the KDE spin?

Since KDE 4.0, the default KDE window manager, KWin, supplies its own implementation of desktop effects. Since KDE 4.2, this also includes the famous "Cube" effect. The KDE project believes that adding desktop effects to a powerful window manager (such as KWin) ultimately produces a more reliable result with less developer effort than reimplementing complex window management features and desktop integration in a window manager primarily designed for desktop effects (such as Compiz). See the Why Not Compiz? section of the KWin release notes for KDE4.0 for details.

We do, however, provide Compiz with KDE 4 integration in our repository. Just install the compiz-kde package to get it.

How can I package KDE 4 software for Fedora?

Included is a sample kde4_foo.spec to use as a template starting point. Please use the RPM macros as defined in /etc/rpm/macros.kde4 whenever possible.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{move|KDE 4 FAQs|[[User:Ianweller|Ian Weller]]}}
 == Fedora/KDE4 FAQ ==
+=== Why didn't you wait for KDE 4.1 before making it default KDE in Fedora 9? ===
 {{Anchor|kde4-wait}}
-=== Why didn't you wait for KDE 4.1 before making it default KDE in Fedora 9? ===
-QT 3, the underlying toolkit for KDE 3 has been unmaintained from July 2007. KDE 4.1 release is soon after the Fedora 9 release. If KDE 4.0.3 wasn't introduced in Fedora 9, updating to KDE 4.1 post release is difficult and disruptive. Providing the latest software to Fedora users and supporting upstream projects such as KDE is among the Fedora [[Objectives|  objectives]] . KDE 4.0.5 is now available as a update in Fedora 9 and KDE 4.1 is planned to follow soon after it's release and Fedora users don't have to wait for the next Fedora release to get the benefits of the latest KDE updates.
+QT 3, the underlying toolkit for KDE 3 has been unmaintained from July 2007. KDE 4.1 release is soon after the Fedora 9 release. If KDE 4.0.3 wasn't introduced in Fedora 9, updating to KDE 4.1 post release is difficult and disruptive. Providing the latest software to Fedora users and supporting upstream projects such as KDE is among the Fedora [[Objectives|  objectives]] .
-{{Anchor|kde4-f7-f8}}
-=== Will KDE4 be released for F7, F8? ===
+=== Will KDE 3 be released for Fedora 9 and later? ===
+{{Anchor|kde4-f9}}
-Yes and no.
+Fedora 9 does '''not''' include a complete KDE 3 desktop nor the KDE 3 versions of applications which are included in KDE 4, such as Konqueror. What is provided:
+* compatibility libraries and a compatibility development platform, allowing to build and run KDE 3 applications. These will stay as long as needed, probably for several years.
+* in Fedora 9, KDE 3 versions of modules not available or missing their main application in KDE 4.0: kdepim (not in 4.0), kdevelop (not in 4.0, 4.1 nor 4.2), kdewebdev (no Quanta in 4.0, 4.1 nor 4.2). kdepim has been replaced by the version from KDE 4.1 in Fedora 10 (and 4.2 in Fedora 10 updates). KDevelop will probably be replaced by a KDE 4.3 version starting from Fedora 12, the status of Quanta is still uncertain.
+* several third-party KDE 3 applications: third-party applications such as K3b will continue to be shipped in KDE 3 versions as long as the KDE 4 version is not ready. In future versions of Fedora, these will be gradually replaced by KDE 4 versions as they become available. For example, Fedora 10 now includes KDE 4 versions of Amarok and Digikam.
+* a ''kdegames3'' package containing the KDE 3 games not available in the KDE 4 ''kdegames''. These are expected to become less over time.
-Yes, [http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/f8/en_US/sn-Devel.html#sn-kde4-dev KDE4 Development Platform]  packages are available, which provide
+====  Why not?  Can't you install both KDE 3 and KDE 4? ====
-the ability build and run KDE4 applications.
+{{Anchor|why-not-kde3}}
-No, a full KDE4 Desktop is not available for previous releases, and will
-included only in [[Releases/FeatureKDE4| F9 and on]] .
-{{Anchor|why-not-kde4}}
-====  Why not?  Can't you install both KDE3 and KDE4? ====
 In short, no.  Upstream does not support this configuration.
+====  But, but, other distros are doing it. ====
 {{Anchor|other-distros}}
-====  But, but, other distros are doing it. ====
 True, while theoretically possible to do, it involves what we consider
@@ Line 37: / Line 35: @@
 Have we mentioned that upstream doesn't support it? :)
-{{Anchor|please}}
-====  Pretty please? ====
-OK, OK, for those die-hard fedora/kde fans, you've got a couple options.
+=== How does that new desktop work? How do I fix it if got messed up for some reason? ===
+{{Anchor|desktop}}
+Please refer to the [http://userbase.kde.org/Plasma Plasma FAQ] at [http://userbase.kde.org/ KDE UserBase].
-We have built some completely unofficial kde-4.0 packages(*3*) hosted
-outside of Fedora at the [http://kde-redhat.sourceforge.net KDE RedHat project]  (in the unstable section). Be warned, however, that these packages '''replace''' KDE 3.
-F9 alpha/beta releases include a nice KDE live image, which could use
+=== Why is Compiz not installed by default in the KDE spin? ===
-some love and feedback.
+{{Anchor|compiz}}
-(*3*) FIXME/TODO: link to official announcement of KDE4/F8 packages.
+Since KDE 4.0, the default KDE window manager, KWin, supplies its own implementation of desktop effects. Since KDE 4.2, this also includes the famous "Cube" effect. The KDE project believes that adding desktop effects to a powerful window manager (such as KWin) ultimately produces a more reliable result with less developer effort than reimplementing complex window management features and desktop integration in a window manager primarily designed for desktop effects (such as Compiz). See the [http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KWin/4.0-release-notes#Why_not_Compiz.3F Why Not Compiz? section of the KWin release notes for KDE4.0] for details.
-{{Anchor|kde4-f9}}
+We do, however, provide Compiz with KDE 4 integration in our repository. Just install the <code>compiz-kde</code> package to get it.
-=== Will KDE 3 be released for F9 and later? ===
-The answer is similar to 1.: Fedora 9 does '''not''' include a complete KDE 3 desktop nor the KDE 3 versions of applications which are included in KDE 4, such as Konqueror. What is provided:
-* compatibility libraries and a compatibility development platform, allowing to build and run KDE 3 applications. These will stay as long as needed, probably for several years.
-* in Fedora 9, KDE 3 versions of modules not available or missing their main application in KDE 4.0: kdepim (not in 4.0), kdevelop (not in 4.0), kdewebdev (no Quanta in 4.0). These will probably be replaced by KDE 4.1 versions starting from Fedora 10.
-* several third-party KDE 3 applications: third-party applications like K3b, Amarok and many others will continue to be shipped in KDE 3 versions as long as the KDE 4 version is not ready. In future versions of Fedora, these will be gradually replaced by KDE 4 versions as they become available.
-* a ''kdegames3'' package containing the KDE 3 games not available in the KDE 4 ''kdegames''. These are expected to become less over time.
-If you do not want to move to KDE 4 yet, feel free to keep Fedora 8 which will get updates until 1 month after the Fedora 10 release.
+=== How can I package KDE 4 software for Fedora? ===
 {{Anchor|package-kde4}}
-=== How can I package kde4 software for fedora? ===
+Included is a sample [[:Image:SIGs_KDE_KDE4FAQ_kde4_foo.spec|kde4_foo.spec]] to use as a template starting point.  Please use the RPM macros as defined in /etc/rpm/macros.kde4 whenever possible.
-Included is a sample [[Image:SIGs_KDE_KDE4FAQ_kde4_foo.spec]] to use as a template starting point.  Please use the rpm macros as defined in /etc/rpm/macros.kde4 whenever possible.

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