KubuntuDapperRoadmap

Summary

Kubuntu Roadmap for Dapper

Rationale

Kubuntu is now an established and popular distribution. It's use is growing among Ubuntu users, KDE users and users new to Free Software. We want Kubuntu to be the most popular, featureful and easy to use distribution there is. This roadmap will define our overall goals of the core developers for the Dapper release so that all contributors can see where we are heading.

Scope

Fix current problems in Kubuntu, catch up with Ubuntu where it has features which surpass ours and promote and encourage the best KDE software.

Implementation

Dapper is a long term supported release, so we must ensure Kubuntu is an extra polished release with minimal bugs. Breezy included too many major problems, some caused by the last minute inclusion of KDE 3.4.3. There are also far too many unsorted bugzilla entries. We will ensure all Kubuntu bugzilla entries are reviewed and tidied.

KDE

Dapper will include KDE 3.5. Packages for KDE 3.5 will be uploaded to dapper after the conference. KDE 3.5 will be released less than a month from this conference so there will be plenty of time to ensure it is free of major problems. The KDE packages need to be synced with Debian as they have made some changes since our last sync. We should continue to work closely with the Debian KDE packagers and make an effort to actively point out our changes to them. This has started with a Kubuntu-Debian-Changes file for the KOffice packages which also helps make syncing back to Debian easier. Our packaging should be made available in revision control to the Debian packagers (and others).

We will investigate the possibility of using -fvisibility=hidden GCC option. Currently this causes problems with GCC 4.0 which may be fixable or have been fixed. arts in KDE 3.5 also crashes with Debian/Ubuntu's GCC. We will work with our GCC developers and KDE's developers on these issues.

Kubuntu already has the best KDE Python support of any distribution. We should focus on the best KDE Python integration for Ubuntu in Dapper and ensure PyKDE for KDE 3.5 is uploaded as soon as possible after KDE 3.5, this is already working for beta. We have to work with PyQt, PyKDE and PyKDEExtension Upstream maintainers closely.

Time permitting we will create initial packages for KDE 4 to let KDE developers have an easy way to get a KDE 4 environment running.

Configuration

System settings has been a successful move in Kubuntu. We will ensure any outstanding issues with it are fixed, significantly it does not load modules with i18n. We will also review the ordering of the modules, currently it is hard to find keyboard set for example. We will also ensure that modules fit on 1024 screens, currently not all modules do.

knetworkconf is our network configuration module and a frontend to gnome-system-tool network module. The code is not as well tested as it should be and the user interface is not as slick as the gnome frontend. We will review the code, ensure it works in all situations and improve the user interface (including making sure it fits on screens as mentioned above).

Multimedia and Graphics

There is increasing concern about the appearance of KDE applications on Gnome and vice-versa. Applications from the other desktop should feel natural when run on the other. This is partly solved in Kubuntu with gtk-qt-engine. We will ensure gtk-qt-engine works well in dapper including support for KDE icon loading in Gnome apps. We will also review the freedesktop icon name spec for use in KDE 4 as the removal to one of these barriers in the future.

KDE is moving away from arts. Kubuntu has taken advantage of this by using GStreamer in both Amarok and Kaffeine. We will work with upstream to ensure GStreamer support in these applications is stable and featureful. We may also investigate SuSE's kdemm backport to KDE 3, however as a backport of an unstable API it may not be easy to maintain.

We want to encourage IPCF/Telepathy/Galago/Kimproxy integration into KDE and will work with any upstream in getting it into Kubuntu. See https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-integration-sip-im

We should work towards full CKJ support with help from the ubuntu-cn community. Skim is being packages and we need to ensure the latest version is in Dapper. We should test that fonts work reliably for CKJ languages in Kubuntu.

Testing

We should create a testing plan for Kubuntu CDs to mirror the Ubuntu CD testing and encourage the community to help by following the testing plan. The testing plan should also include upgrading from hoary and breezy to ensure upgrades are smooth and without problems such as overlapping files.

Breezy did not have any Kubuntu milestone CDs due to the transitions giving very little time when CDs were usable. We should ensure Dapper has milestone Kubuntu CDs. We will target milestone CDs for the same days as Ubuntu milestone CDs and ensure daily and daily-live CDs are tested on all 3 architectures are tested for those days.

LaptopTesting has been a successful way of improving Ubuntu quality. We should work with the LaptopTesting team to extend the program to Kubuntu to ensure Kubuntu is well tested for the same features as Ubuntu.

BoF agenda and discussion

Less bugs please kde 3.5 (sync to debian) ... kde 4 packages?

simplify KDE bits:

investigate best practice for kwallet to balance lack of intrusiveness with security.

right click on files in konqueror with "send to email recipient" option maybe other "send to" options - make configurable so that it doesnt have to use Kmail if you dont want it to

Reviewer Comments

MarkShuttleworth: Thanks for addressing previous reviewer comments. Approved.

KubuntuDapperRoadmap (last edited 2008-08-06 16:37:02 by localhost)