Getting Started

Getting_Started

Determine Your Needs

KDE versions are split into branches off of the Trunk. The steps to build most branches are very similar. However, Each branch has different prerequisites.

Version

For production use, we recommend using a stable "branch" version of KDE. If you just want to use KDE, take a look at http://userbase.kde.org/. If you are developing applications, your distribution's dev packages and the kde-sdk may work. If your distribution does not have KDE you'll need to build it yourself.

If you want to hack at KDE's core modules, you'll need to build it, and TRUNK is the main branch where new features (and prerequisites) are added, however it can be difficult to keep up with.

Other versions and FAQ Including information for building on non-linux systems Incl KDE3

To See which versions/branches of KDE are available go to:

http://websvn.kde.org/branches/KDE/

Location

It is possible to install KDE in a variety of ways. Instructions should be listed with each build method, however much is common between methods and reading all may be required. Note that if using system Qt for a user based KDE install, the QCA plugin may have to be installed as root)

development user home

This is a common way to do it so that it does not interefere with your production user and the rest of the system. A common user name is kde-devel. This is recommended for the cautious testers and developers. You can still use scripts to switch between system and regular.

your home directory

Useful on development machines, or if you have no other access to the machine, you will have to set environment variables to switch between system and user versions of KDE, There are some scripts to help you use it. And switching back and forth between versions of a program are likely to corrupt your data.

system-wide

on development systems, do it to test KDM and other system level KDE functionality. This is normal for production use. If you are just testing KDM, you may want to use a virtual machine so you do not damage a production system.

Method

Regardless of method chosen, reading up on the manual steps below will be very helpful. CMake may also be of interest.

Fully Manual
Distribution Specific
Augmented (Recommended): Manual, but with a few scripts to keep everything easy
KDEsrc-build: Useful for automated builds, may be tough to set up

Gather Prerequisites

Your build will fail if you are missing one of them, and the list changes. There are some options, however the make system can often find optional packages even if you do not intend to use them, so you may need to pass disable options.

Getting_Started/Build/KDE4/Prerequisites
build requirements by distribution

Build it

Most used method, augmented with bash functions.

Getting_Started/Increased_Productivity_in_KDE4_with_Scripts

Manual Steps

KDE 4 (Development version, TRUNK)
KDE 4.x (Stable version or 4.x SVN BRANCH)
Upgrade KDE-4.4.x release version or KDE-4.4 SVN BRANCH)
Other versions and FAQ Including information for building on non-linux systems

distribution specific

There may be pre-made builds for your distribution, For example, in Kubuntu, Project Neon, aims to provide a recent trunk build environment, and PPA's provide latest branch versions.

kdesrc-build

This script will do most of the downloading and compiling for you. It can be configured to build most versions, by default it builds Trunk. There full-process instructions at http://kdesrc-build.kde.org and more here kdesrc-build, and here is a list of working configuration files.

This will compile qt for you, or you can configure it to use system QT
When you choose a branch
- edit your .kdesrc-buildrc
  - set your branch
  - you will have to tweak the kdeSupport module description, and maybe the qt-copy. For the kdesupport module: module-base-path tags/kdesupport-for-4.5

Getting the Source

Anonymous SVN Quickstart Guide
Using Subversion with KDE A more in depth look at accessing KDE source code with subversion, including the repository layout and working with revisions and patches.
Amarok Git Tutorial Amarok has moved to Git (with the rest of KDE to follow), so it requires different steps to check out and develop.
Daily Snapshots
Browse code online, or search the code

Troubleshooting the build

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting information is similar between branches as well.

Compile and Linking errors are frequent sources of discouragement. make careful note of the first occurrence of an error in your build process. It could be as simple as a bad environment variable, an unexpected version of a library or missing prerequisite.

Please review your logs and do searches for fixes. If you cannot find a solution, Build/KDE4/Errors and IRC channel, and mailing lists. Build/Stories

Using your KDE

After KDE has been built, you'll want a good way to launch apps and perform your regular development tasks:

Environment Variables

Your system won't know to use your new KDE until you tell it how to find the KDE applications and libraries.

Set up Development Tools

You may need to set up or use, you will likely want to use a stable package from your distribution.

it is unclear if the kde-devel user or your normal user will be running the development tools. Please Help

For most development topics, and documentation, see Development

Opening and creating KDE project files

This is a stub, please help.

Contribution

You may not need the latest bleeding-edge KDE to develop with, Much code will be similiar between versions and your patch might work, however Trunk is where major changes are introduced, and branches are mostly maintenance/bug fix.