Features/KDE42

Feature Name

KDE 4.2

Summary

Rebase to KDE 4.2 and KOfice 2.

Owner

• KDE SIG
• IRC: #fedora-kde

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora 41
• Last updated: 2008-12-11
• Percentage of completion: 15%

KDE 4.1.80 already imported to Rawhide.

Detailed Description

We are going to rebase KDE to 4.2 version. The aim of upstream KDE team is to bring feature rich release comparable to old KDE 3.5 one. PolicyKit-KDE is KDE frontend for PolicyKit, which is extensively used all around the whole Fedora distribution. Same for the Network Manager - plasma applet is next step in its support in KDE and Fedora. PowerDevil will help with power management - very important part of this feature especially for laptop users. We'd also like to include KOffice 2 - new version of KDE's office suite.

New features overview

• KDE 4.2
• PolicyKit-KDE
• Network Manager Plasma applet
• PowerDevil
• KOffice 2
• Make KDE startup faster

Benefit to Fedora

KDE is popular desktop environment among Fedora users and KDE 4.2 brings to users missing features from previous releases of 4th generation KDE. It's already comparable to the old 3.5 one.

Scope

Requires rebasing to the latest upstream version and preparing distribution specific patches. Packages dependent on KDE has to be updated.

How To Test

1. yum groupinstall "KDE (K Desktop Environment)"
2. set KDE as default environment + KDM
3. login to KDE desktop

What should be checked:

• integration of PolicyKit-KDE
• Network Manager plasma applet
• power management
• startup time
• distribution integration - (Policy/Console)Kit, DBUS

Note: This "How To Test" section will be updated to match the current progress of this feature based on already founded and predictable problems.

User Experience

Modern, feature rich and stable desktop environment.

Dependencies

Depends on upstream KDE 4.2 release, see schedule. Currently KDE 4.2 Beta 2 was tagged (2008-12-11). Final release is planned on January 27th, 2009.

For KOffice 2, see schedule. Currently KOffice 2 beta 4 was released (2008-12-10).

Contingency Plan

Given how the KDE 4.2 and Fedora 11 schedules align, there should be plenty of buffer time between the KDE 4.2 and Fedora 11 releases. We are already working on importing and polishing beta version of KDE. In case of problems with upstream release we can revert to older release or we can omit individual problematic modules of this feature. KDE 4.2 could be later shipped as an update.

Documentation

We are going to prepare Fedora KDE Destop User Guide as part of this feature.

Release Notes

TBD

Comments and Discussion

• See Talk:Features/KDE42

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