Kubuntu is an important part of the Ubuntu project. Our goal is to ensure that we can deliver a complete KDE experience in every release, which reflects the best of what is currently available from KDE and also the best of what is available in the broader Ubuntu project.

Ubuntu is definitively a GNOME desktop, and Kubuntu definitively KDE. We deliberately do not have a single desktop with cherrypicked applications from both environments. However, a key goal is to ensure that apps from both GNOME and KDE work well in either environment.

In order to provide certainty in that regard, this page documents the expected commonality for LTS releases between Ubuntu and Kubuntu.

12.04 Planning

• Category Indicators

  • Messaging Menu: a Messaging Menu should be present on Kubuntu by default, and primary KDE messaging applications should detect and use it on either desktop. A final list of applications that need to support the protocol for discovery, activation and signalling will be settled by 11.10.

  • Sound Menu: a Sound Menu should be present on Kubuntu by default. Primary KDE audio applications should detect and use it on either desktop. A final list of applications that need to support the Sound Menu will be settled by 11.10.

• Application Indicators

  • The AppIndicator protocol should be supported. This is believed to be in place already. However, applications should work in cases where the only events passed through are left-click and scrollwheel events. Application indicators should be fully functional without right-click, double-click and other events.

• Global Menu

  • KDE applications in the default Kubuntu install, and those which are commonly installed in addition to that, should support the common Global Menu protocol. They should detect it and use it by preference when it is available.

• Notify-OSD Support

  • KDE applications running environments where Notify-OSD is the notification system should respect the approach taken by Notify-OSD and adapt messages accordingly. They should take advantage of notification updates rather than sending sequential, unconnected messages. They should also not refer to buttons which are not displayed, or refer to icons which are not actually being "pointed to" by the notification.