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In this file:
* About kdelibs * Licensing * Common Mistakes * Upgrading * Compile Problems * More Info About kdelibs ------------- This is version 4.12.4 of the KDE libraries. This package includes libraries that are central to the development and execution of a KDE program, as well as internationalization files for these libraries, misc HTML documentation, theme modules, and regression tests. Here is an alphabetical list of all individual libraries: * dnssd Interface to the DNS-SD (Zeroconf) support. * interfaces kparts interface for text editors, mediaplayer and scripting. * kate KPart for 'kate', the KDE advanced text editor. * kde3support This contains libraries that were part of KDE3, but have been replaced for KDE4 * kdecore This is the core collection of KDE stuff. Non GUI classes reside here. * kdesu Library for password entering and handling * kdeui The main collection of misc. user interface classes (widgets). * kdewidgets For developers: KDE's custom widgets for Qt Designer. * kfile File management widgets and dialogs. * khtml The next generation HTML rendering widget designed for Konqueror. This supports HTML 4, CSS, and a variety of other web related standards. * kimgio An all purpose extension to the qimgio class that supports various image formats. * kio Classes that fetch and decode URLs are contained here. This library also contains "ksycoca", the system configure cache containing services, applications, servicetypes and mimetypes. * kjs Implementation of ECMAScript (aka JavaScript). * kjsembed A binding of the ECMAScript language to interface with KDE code. * knewstuff Allows applications to easily download data from the Internet to add new information to the program. e.g. wallpapers, translation packs, etc. * knotify Handles user notifications, including sounds, logging to files, etc. * kparts KDE component model. * kpty Abstraction layer for virtual consoles. * kross Scripting host for KDE applications. * kutils Utility library for printing, chatting and more. * nepomuk Semantic information retrieval and tagging. * plasma Framework for the KDE 4 desktop shell and its widgets. * security Certificate management and cryptography settings. * solid Hardware detection. * sonnet Tools for natural language processing, including spell and grammar check. Includes gui widgets. * threadweaver Job-based threading library. And here is an alphabetical list of all further parts of kdelibs: * cmake Build system used throughout KDE. * doc Documentation in docbook format. * includes Qt-style include file wrappers. * kconf_update Auto-Updater for config files. * kded The KDE daemon checks for newly installed software, update files or hostname changes and takes according actions. * kdoctools Contains mostly stuff convert XML docbook files via XSLT into human readable stuff. * kioslave I/O subprocesses to handle files, ftp, http, gzip and bzip2 streams. * kinit Process launcher (kdeinit), used for fast KDE startup and to launch kioslaves. * licenses Contains texts of all used licenses. * mimetypes Database of mime types. Licensing --------- The libraries themselves have been covered (since Saturday, June 21st, 1997) by the GNU Library General Public License (LGPL). Any other programs (such as the examples) are covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL). All the gory details for the LGPL reside in COPYING.LIB, and for the GPL reside in COPYING. Various parts are also covered under a BSD style license, detailed in licenses/BSD. Currently, code covered under such license is copyrighted by Theo de Raadt. When in doubt, check the individual file, they should all have license headings and other identifying marks. Common Mistakes --------------- If cmake claims Qt cannot be found, look at http://qt.nokia.com/ to get a copy of Qt, version 4.7 or newer. If you have peeked there already, grab the SVN module qt-copy from anonsvn.kde.org, or a snapshot thereof. Alternatively the svn module qt-copy from svn.kde.org can also be used. If you know you have the latest Qt 4, another reason it may not be able to 'find' QT is because it's finding an older version of QT 4. Make sure that your PATH is set appropriately to find the qmake from the latest Qt 4, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH is set to include $QTDIR/lib. Debugging --------- You can set the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE option with the cmake, if you want to have debug code in your KDE libs. If you have the space and can stand code that's somewhat slower, this is worth it. The extra information really helps debugging and thus bugfixing. Available options as of CMake 2.4.5: Release: Compile with no debugging information, optimization enabled. Debug: Minimal optimization, with debugging information. RelWithDebInfo: Normal optimization, with debugging information. MinSizeRel: No debugging information, with optimization for smallest size. e.g.: "cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug" when running cmake. See also the file DEBUG. Upgrading --------- KDE 4 applications will try to migrate settings from your KDE 3 installation where possible. Compile Problems ---------------- Often, KDE compile failures are not KDE's fault, but the fault of the compiler or the distribution used. For that reason, please have a look at http://techbase.kde.org/Getting_Started/Build/FAQ for known issues in certain OS environments before reporting bugs or going mad :). KDE 4 requires gcc 3.3 or better as the compiler. How to report ------------- Reporting bugs is an art. Why? Because bug reports can help and hinder. They hinder if the developers are just buried in an avalanche of bug reports. They spend hours figuring out which bug reports are valid and which aren't, which bug reports are due to bugs or due to installation problems. They can be of tremendous help to notify developers on problems in areas that they normally don't have access (e.g. KDE on AIX) to. So, here are some tips on bug reporting: * Make sure your bug is due to KDE ... and not due to a packaging problem of your OS distributor. For example, most "I can not install the XYZ.rpm" problem are due to packaging issues. Refer with such questions to your OS Distributor and his appropriate mailing list or bug reporting tool. * The chance is high that your bug has already been dealt with ... so look if there is a newer version of kdelibs available. Reporting bugs for older, deprecated versions usually don't get that much attention :-) * Also the chance is high that another one experienced your problem. The bug report wizard at http://bugs.kde.org/ will help you to find out if your problem has already been reported. * KDE Applications come with a Report Bug option in the Help menu that will fill out many of the forms on the bug reporter tool at http://bugs.kde.org/ for you. * The best bug report for a project based on voluntary work is of course one that comes with a patch that solves the problem. :-) More info --------- http://www.kde.org/ is a good starting point for info on KDE. If you are a developer, you may also point your browser to http://techbase.kde.org/. There is a plethora of mailing lists available, you can gain an overview quickly by looking at http://lists.kde.org/. |