KubuntuHardyKde4

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Summary

Packaging KDE 4 in Hardy.

Release Note

KDE 4 packages are available with selected modules supported as default. CDs are available for those who prefer a complete KDE 4 environment without LTS.

Rationale

KDE 4 rocks, we should support it.

Design

Merge with Debian, keep packages co-installable and use kdeedu by default in Edubuntu

Implementation

Use the Debian packaging rather than our current packaging, but keep the namespaced source package names so kdebase remains as kde4base.

Keep packages installed into /usr/lib/kde4. Have the packaging create wrapper scripts for each binary in /usr/bin/<binary>-kde4 which export required PATHs and run /usr/lib/kde4/<binary>. Also create menu entries in /usr/share/applications/<binary>-kde4 which point to /usr/lib/kde4/bin/<binary>-kde4.

Binary packages need to be renamed to <package>-kde4 where they overlap in name with the KDE 3 version.

Make sure kdebase-data and kdelibs5, kdebase-runtime-bin, kdebase-runtime-data, kde-icon-oxygen are co-installable with the KDE 3 packages in order to allow KDE 3 and 4 to be run side by side.

Add kdeedu-kde4 to the Edubuntu edubuntu-addon-kde package, replacing kdeedu apps.

Create a seed called kubuntu-kde4 with associated meta package kubuntu-kde4-desktop to be an easy way to install a KDE 4 desktop. Add a .desktop file to app-install-data so it can be easily installed from adept-installer or gnome-app-install.

Missing Tools

The major missing application in KDE 4 compared to KDE 3 is packaging tools. Work with upstream to create front-end KDE tools for PackageKit and the backend for apt. This is not a requirement for hardy but should be started in its timeframe to ensure they are ready for hardy+1. For Hardy we will use the existing Adept tools.

CDs

Create daily kubuntu-kde4 Hardy CDs from the kubuntu-kde4 CD. These would not be put on releases.ubuntu.com at release time but kept on cdimage.ubuntu.com and marketed as an alternative CD for the experimental.

For the 4.0 release, Hardy will not be stable enough for CDs. Use unidistro to create CDs with KDE 4 based on Gutsy and include as much as can fit on the CD. Unidistro is easier to create quick custom CDs with than our own CD creation process. CDs should be made for each release of KDE 4. Upload to Kubuntu.org, emphasise that they are unsupported.

Migration

None at this stage, continue to use ~/.kde4 for data. Move to ~/.kde for hardy+1 after extensive testing that settings are safely migrated from KDE 3 to 4.


CategorySpec

KubuntuHardyKde4 (last edited 2008-08-06 16:32:39 by localhost)