Getting Started

Getting_Started

Warning

This page is yet to be reviewed for changes required by the migration to Git. Information and commands on this page may no longer be valid and should be used with care. Please see the KDE Git hub page for more details.

Introduction

There are several possible ways to build and install KDE and the method you choose depends on what you want to do with KDE once it is built. The table below provides some guidance in making this decision, but before you start please read the rest of the page for more detailed information on Getting Started.

Official Release	Nightly Build	Stable from Source	Master (Recommended)
For the casual user, or a developer who is working on applications outside of KDE SC	For application developers or package managers who are not modifying the core of KDE SC	For KDE SC and applications developers that want to spend less time setting up a build system	For developers working on core KDE SC functionality, and desire/need up-to-the-minute changes. Recommended for very active developers.
1. Use a Distribution with KDE to set up a fully functional KDE system in one step. Also install the "developer packages" if you want to compile KDE software	1. Install Getting_Started/Build/Requirements from your distribution	1. Install Getting_Started/Build/Requirements from your distribution	1. Install Getting_Started/Build/Requirements from your distribution
	2. Download and setup KDE SC easily using Project Neon	2. Download KDE sources from SVN	3. Download and Build KDE SC from Git
		3. Build a stable 4.x release	3. Download and Build KDE SC from Git
		4. Set up scripts to ease KDE development	4. Set up scripts to ease KDE development

Getting Help

If you have any questions or issues related to building and developing KDE feel free to ask us. However, be patient and do expect to be attempting to work through the issue as well (we aren't just going to do it all for you).

Source Repositories and Revision Control

Currently, KDE SC source code is for the most part, accessed using git. For those modules that are still in svn, consult: Getting_Started/Sources/Anonymous_SVN.

Amarok has already migrated to Git, as well as many other modules modules (phonon, parts of kdesupport, kdelibs, kdebase, kdeplasma-addons). Until we are fully migrated at least, it is recommended to use kdesrc-build if you can, as it takes care of all of this for you.

Development Tools

You will likely want to use a stable package from your distribution instead of the ones of the KDE version you are working on.

For most development topics, and documentation, see Development

Opening and creating KDE project files

Building KDE

Getting_Started/Build

Platform

For instructions on installing KDE SC on Windows, BSD, or Mac OS X, or instructions for installing KDE3, please see the other supported platforms page. There are also upgrade instructions from a branch to trunk.

Contributing To KDE

Once you have a copy of KDE built you can then start contributing back to KDE. The pages below will help you find out how you can help make KDE even better.