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[https://edge.launchpad.net/project-neon Project Neon] is a nightly build of the latest KDE trunk. It is an easy way for new contributors to KDE to get started without having to build the entire KDE-SVN tree and maintain the checkout. Additionally, dependencies are automatically handled and updated. This is suitable for new developers, translators, usability designers, documenters, promoters, bug triagers etc. This process makes the steps detailed on [[Getting_Started/Build/KDE4|this page]], including changes to your [[Getting_Started/Increased_Productivity_in_KDE4_with_Scripts/.bashrc|.bashrc]] unnecessary.

However, for developers, it may at some point become necessary to build more components from SVN as you become more involved in the project. The [[Getting_Started/Build/KDE4/kdesvn-build|kdesvn-build]] script is an easy way to build all or parts of KDE SVN.

== Requirements ==

Project neon always requires the latest stable Kubuntu release. As of January 2009, that is version 8.10. Previous versions of Kubuntu are not supported. It is possible to port Project Neon to other distributions, though there are currently no maintainers for other distributions working on the project. OpenSuse provides their own weekly build of KDE trunk. Find instructions on how to use it [[Getting Started/Using OpenSuse KDE unstable packages for development|here]].

== Installing Project Neon ==

To use Project Neon, add the following PPA (Personal Package Archive) to your sources.list using your preferred method:

<code bash>
# Project neon nightly KDE4 build
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/project-neon/ubuntu intrepid main
</code>

After that, you can simply install the nightly package of whichever modules you want to work on. The following packages are available:

 kde-nightly-kdebase
 kde-nightly-kdeplasma-addons
 kde-nightly-kdepim
 kde-nightly-kdeedu
 kde-nightly-kdenetwork
 kde-nightly-kdeutils
 kde-nightly-kdegraphics
 kde-nightly-kdemultimedia

You can install all of the packages or just the ones you are interested in, depending on what you want to use them for. For example if you want to install the latest KDE Workspace (plasma, kwin etc), install the kde-nightly-kdebase package and kde-nightly-kdeplasma-addons package for extra plasmoids.

<code bash>
sudo aptitude install kde-nightly-kdebase kde-nightly-kdeplasma-addons
</code>

If you are only interested in application development in another module, you can install just the module package.

<code bash>
sudo aptitude install kde-nightly-kdepim
</code>

That command will also install the kdelibs, kdepimlibs and other dependencies too. In your regular (stable) kde session you can then run the nightly version of your chosen application by using the full path from the command line.

<code bash>
/opt/kde-nightly/bin/kmail
</code>

This will correctly use the nightly version of libraries instead of using the stable versions, so no other changes are necessary to your library path etc.

Alternatively, instead of using the full path to the executable, you could add the following to your .bashrc

<code bash>
_STABLE_PATH=$PATH
function switchtonightly {
  export PATH=/opt/kde-nightly/bin:$_STABLE_PATH
}

function switchtostable {
  export PATH=$_STABLE_PATH
}
</code>

This will allow you to optionally run unstable applications when you choose to in your session.

<code bash>
# Runs the stable version of kmail
kmail
switchtonightly
# runs the nightly version of kmail
kmail
# runs the nightly version of knode
knode
switchtostable
# runs the stable version of kmail
kmail
</code>

Note that settings for applications that you run from project neon do not conflict with your regular application settings and data. <tt>.kde-neon/</tt> is used instead of <tt>.kde/</tt>

== Using Project Neon for development ==

If you are joining one of the development teams in KDE, you will need a real svn checkout in order to contribute your code back to the project and create patches easily.

Some extra tools (neonmake) are provided for this purpose in the package amarok-nightly-tools. The packages come with development headers and debugging symbols built in.

<code bash>
sudo aptitude install amarok-nightly-tools
</code>

If you are already using a nightly package of the module you want to develop for, you should remove that, and checkout the development version. For example:

<code bash>
# Remove the packaged nightly version
sudo aptitude purge kde-nightly-kdepim 
# Get the dependencies for building kdepim
sudo apt-get build-dep kde-nightly-kdepim
cd ~
# You may choose to do your development in a different folder.
cd Development
# Gets the latest version of the kdepim module.
svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/KDE/kdepim
cd kdepim
# Shortcut provided by Project Neon to make the module
# and install it to the prefix /opt/kde-nightly/
sudo apt-
neonmake
</code>

Note that you should usually checkout a module from kde, not an application. Most modules contain libraries shared within the module and which are necessary to build the applications in the module.

Also of note is the neonmake command. This is a shortcut which temporarily sets some environment variables like the LD_LIBRARY_PATH, the install prefix etc, then runs the equivalent of <tt>cmake && make && make install</tt>. It also runs rpath to configure the executable file to use the nightly libraries.

== Using Project Neon for translation ==

The Project Neon nightly packages include English language strings only. Translated packages are not available. However, if you are translating KDE applications, you can install the translations from KDE SVN in your normal workflow.

<code bash>
cd ~
cd Translations
# The -N switch checks out only the top level directory from svn.
svn co -N svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/l10n-kde4
cd l10n-kde4
# scripts neccessary to build translations.
svn up scripts
# Get the german translations
svn up de
# Generate the build files for the German language pack
./scripts/autogen.sh de
cd de
neonmake
</code>

After building the translations it is possible to either change the language in system settings, or run applications in another language using the environment variable KDE_LANG.

<code bash>
switchtonightly
KDE_LANG=de kmail
switchtostable
</code>

== Using Project Neon for documentation ==

The Project Neon nightly source packages include the offical KDE User Documentation in English.

TODO: How to build user docs from svn.

== Using Project Neon for promotion ==

If you are creating screenshots or screencasts of the latest version of KDE, project Neon is a simple and fast way of getting a default KDE4 session.

The KDE Promotion team recommends using the default background, theme, icons etc when preparing offical promotional materials (unless the feature you are showing is related to configuring KDE artwork). Project Neon uses the default artwork that comes with KDE4, so it is useful for creating promo materials.

Here is a shortcut to get all available modules from the PPA:

<code bash>
sudo aptitude install kde-nightly-kdebase kde-nightly-kdeplasma-addons \
kde-nightly-kdepim kde-nightly-kdeedu kde-nightly-kdenetwork \
kde-nightly-kdeutils kde-nightly-kdegraphics kde-nightly-kdemultimedia
</code>

The application [http://ariya.blogspot.com/2008/06/creating-fancy-screenshots-with.html screenie] is provided in Kubuntu 8.10 as <tt>screenie-qt</tt>.

<code bash>
sudo aptitude install screenie-qt
</code>