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.
Set up the development user account
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
Prepare for software setup
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 $@ && make VERBOSE=1 && make install; }
Activate these settings with: (or logout and login again)
source ~/.bashrc
Set up D-Bus
Skip this if you have D-Bus >=0.93 installed.
wget http://dbus.freedesktop.org/releases/dbus/dbus-1.0.2.tar.gz tar xvfz dbus-1.0.2.tar.gz cd dbus-0.1.0.2/ ./configure --disable-qt --disable-qt3 --prefix=$DBUSDIR \ --localstatedir=/var && make && make install dbus-uuidgen --ensure
Set up 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 wget http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.4/cmake-2.4.5.tar.gz tar zxf cmake-2.4.5.tar.gz mkdir cmake-build cd cmake-build ../cmake-2.4.5/bootstrap make sudo make install
Set up Qt
cd svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/qt-copy cd ~/qt-copy && ./apply_patches && \ ./configure -qt-gif -no-exceptions -debug -fast \ -prefix $QTDIR -qdbus && make && make install
Set up kdelibs
cd svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/KDE/kdelibs 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.
If the problems persist, try the make-option --keep-going
Set up 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
Set up 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.