Getting Started/Build/KDE4

This article shows how to download, build, install and start KDE 4 from subversion. It consolidates howtos from various sites, e.g. the old KDE developer pages. This topic shows one way that works. It does not intend to explain the obvious background behind it.

You may be interested in: http://kdesvn-build.kde.org/

To reduce complexity, we use the bash-shell (standard) throughout the tutorial.

Become the user kde-devel

useradd kde-devel
mkdir /home/kde-devel
passwd kde-devel
chown kde-devel:kde-devel /home/kde-devel 2>/dev/null || \
chown kde-devel:users /home/kde-devel

Switch to the user kde-devel: (the dash also changes to the new home directory)

su - kde-devel

Set Environment Variables

You have to add some environment variables - add these lines to your shell's configuration file, e.g. ~/.bashrc.

export YACC='byacc -d'
export QTDIR=$HOME/qt-unstable
export KDEDIR=$HOME/kde
export KDEDIRS=$KDEDIR
export DBUSDIR=$KDEDIR
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$DBUSDIR/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH
export PATH=$QTDIR/bin:$KDEDIR/bin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$QTDIR/lib:$KDEDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
## Uncomment if dbus doesn't work
#alias dbusstart="eval `PATH=$DBUSDIR/bin \
#$DBUSDIR/bin/dbus-launch --auto-syntax`"
function cmakekde { cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$KDEDIR \
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=debugfull $@ && make VERBOSE=1 && make install; }

Activate these settings with: (or logout and login again)

source ~/.bashrc

Check out the software

svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/qt-copy
svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/KDE/kdelibs
wget http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.4/cmake-2.4.3.tar.gz
wget http://dbus.freedesktop.org/releases/dbus/dbus-0.94.tar.gz

Tip

If you have DBUS-0.93 or newer and/or CMake 2.4.3 already installed, you can skip the sections "Build D-Bus" and/or "Install CMake" entirely.

Build D-Bus

tar xvfz dbus-0.94.tar.gz
cd dbus-0.94/
./configure --disable-qt --disable-qt3 --prefix=$DBUSDIR \
--localstatedir=/var && make && make install
dbus-uuidgen --ensure

Install CMake

CMake is the build system tool used in KDE4. It replaced the autotools and libtool based system used in previous versions of KDE due to cross platform and performance issues.

Your operating system may provide CMake as an optional package. Check to see if there is a package of cmake 2.4.3 or better available and if so install that. If not, then you can download CMake from the CMake download page and build from source following the instructions below.

The default prefix is /usr/local, make sure /usr/local/bin is in your $PATH.

cd
tar zxf cmake-2.4.3.tar.gz
mkdir cmake-build
cd cmake-build
../cmake-2.4.3/bootstrap
make
sudo make install

Build Qt

cd ~/qt-copy && ./apply_patches && \
./configure -qt-gif -no-exceptions -debug -fast \
-prefix $QTDIR -qdbus && make && make install

Build kdelibs

cd
mkdir kdelibs-build
cd kdelibs-build
cmakekde ../kdelibs

Install Additional CMake Modules

There are additional CMake modules in kdelibs that are necessary for building KDE applications. To install them:

cd
cd kdelibs/cmake/modules
cmake .
make install

You may need to do the last step as root (e.g. using su or sudo), depending on your system setup.

Troubleshooting

If you have problems compiling kdelibs, first make sure the following commands can be executed: aclocal, autoconf, autoheader, gcc, g++, pkg-config.

Tip

If you get "Could NOT find GIF", install the devel package of libungif (the actual name may vary between operating systems).

If the problems persist, try the make-option --keep-going

Build kdepimlibs

Before kdebase you need to install kdepimlibs

cd
svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/KDE/kdepimlibs
mkdir kdepimlibs-build
cd kdepimlibs-build
cmakekde ../kdepimlibs

Build kdebase

You may need kdebase for some kioslaves.

cd
svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/KDE/kdebase
mkdir kdebase-build
cd kdebase-build
cmakekde ../kdebase

Troubleshooting

If you have troubles compiling kdebase:

• Make sure you have the libxss headers installed. (Usually you got undefined references on xscreensaver objects if you haven't those headers)
• which meinproc has to deliver /home/kde-devel/kde/bin/meinproc
• if cmakekde cannot find the path of kdepimlibs, edit the file /home/kde-devel/kdebase-build/CMakeCache.txt and manually set KDEPIMLIBS_INCLUDE_DIR:PATH=/home/kde-devel/kdepimlibs-build
• if you get an error saying "Please set the following variables: X11_XTest_LIB (ADVANCED)", install the devel package of Xtst. On some systems, this is packaged separately from xext and called x11proto-xext-dev or libxtst-dev. You may also need to remove the CMakeCache.txt file in the build dir after installing the package.

Success!

You are now ready to start building other svn modules in the same fashion as you built kdebase, running and testing KDE4 or writing your own patches and applications.

See the Starting a KDE4 Environment and Applications tutorial for how to start working on your new KDE4 installation.

Additional notes:

Introduction to CMake