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First KDE 4 Snapshot Released

Rich writes "KDE has just released the first developer snapshot of KDE 4. This release isn't for end users, but should help developers who want to begin writing applications for the KDE 4 desktop. This release already includes a new CMake based build system, a change from DCOP to DBUS and of course a port to Qt 4. If you're interested in desktop development, check it out."

11 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Screenshots? by Yuioup · · Score: 5, Funny

    Snapshots? I thought you meant screenshots. Show me the screenshots!!!!

    (Bye bye karma. We will miss you).

    1. Re:Screenshots? by strcmp · · Score: 5, Informative

      As of now, the interface looks exactly the same as it did in KDE 3.5.

      --
      "Yields falsehood when preceded by its own quotation" yields falsehood when preceded by its own quotation.
  2. Dbus over Dcop? by Surye · · Score: 3, Insightful
    a change from DCOP to DBUS
    Maybe I am a minority, but the dcop interface was one of the things I loved about KDE. It made scripting trivially easy, hell I could do old tasks that used to take a whole script (like a xmms announce script for xchat or something), and do it with a one-liner alias with dcop. Perhaps this will be good for dbus, assuming it's a better backend technology, to give it a dcop-style interface?
    1. Re:Dbus over Dcop? by Carewolf · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes. The new Qt-DBUS module contains a tool similar to the old dcop utility, so you can script to your hearts content.

  3. I'll switch to dbus when ... by Gopal.V · · Score: 4, Insightful
    They let me do this with dbus
    alias loud='dcop kmix Mixer0 setMute 1 0'
    alias silent='dcop kmix Mixer0 setMute 1 1'
    No, I've used dbus too. But there's nothing like dcop, especially for such hooks for mundane things.

    But I guess, it is a good thing KDE and gnome are converging ... for the linux desktop, at least in the short term.

    1. Re:I'll switch to dbus when ... by Laxitive · · Score: 5, Informative

      You should still be able to do that in the new KDE. Maybe the command name will change (I hope not, because I have several scripts I'd have to change over).. but the functionality should still be there, the same interfaces should still be exposed by apps, and the ability to access it from the shell should still be preserved.

      DBUS is just a message passing layer implementation. How that functionality is exposed is still well within the control of the KDE developers.

      I don't think you have anything to worry about. If you have something to worry about, then I have something to worry about... and I'm not worried.

      Just chill and look forward to Kerry, solid, phonon, plasma, and all the rest of the good stuff coming our way :)

      -Laxitive

  4. Here We Go Again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seconds out; round 328!

    In the blue corner, weighing in at 205 pounds - GNOME! He's certainly the more agile of the two, with considerably greater speed. There have been doubts about whether he has enough tools and power to stay competitive with his opponent, though. He is certainly the promoters favourite, however, and has consequently attracted more in the way of sponsorship. The main power brokers in the business are certainly getting behind this one. Preferred taunt of opponent: 'Bloaty Man'.

    In the red corner, the crowd favourite, weighing in at 325 pounds - KDE! He clearly has the weight advantage, but of course he isn't the speediest in the ring and may get caught wrong-footed if he's not careful. He also has more tricks up his sleeve than his opponent - but how many of them are really useful and how many are just for showing off? Many have remarked on his resemblance to the former champion from Redmond (who was sadly stripped of his title for match-fixing), but he claims to be no relation. A lot of the old hands in the business say he is the one to beat. Preferred taunt of opponent: 'Pretty Boy'.

    Well, it's certainly been a tedious and in many ways pointless fight! Just when it seemed that someone was gaining the upper hand, the other fought back and it still seems to be pretty much level overall. It may have to be decided on points, but there has been much controversy over the alleged bias of the judges, with both fighters' supporters accusing them of siding with their opponent.

    Well, it's time to cut to a commercial break, but don't worry as there is no doubt that this fight is going to run and run.

  5. Kde 4.0? :) by Klaidas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First Development Snapshot of KDE4 "Krash" released. Before anyone goes ahead and compiles/runs this, please be aware that it will look exactly like KDE 3.5 - except for being broken in lots of places.

  6. DBUS OVER DCOP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Definitely DBUS over DCOP, I just got a ticket for 3 miles over the limit.

  7. Not really by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Informative

    In general, the developers and users all seem to say; eh, whatever. The simple answer is, there is no real battle. When GNOME had a late start into this, then yeah, there was a bit of a battle, That was years ago. These days, both sets of developers are trying to make everything interoperable (witness dbus and multimedia).

    For some odd reasons, there is a group of A.C.s that seem bent on starting a battle between these groups and making them focus on each other rather than focusing on beating others groups.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  8. CMake and KDE by The+boojum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm really glad to see CMake finally getting used by a high-profile project. I hated CMake at first sight -- having to install it first before I could build a project seemed strange after the autoconf ./configure; make routine. But it really is a nice system and has meant no longer having to support and keep in sync parallel make files, Visual Studio projects, XCode projects, etc. like I used to. Configure scripts failing on native Windows builds, for example, was always a pain. It's been a lot easier to build cross-platform projects now that I'm using CMake for everything.

    Seeing KDE adopting it has been great news for me, since it means that I may be able to start releasing my own small projects with CMakeList.txt files without getting funny looks. I love that it's looking like KDE will blaze the trail for us little guys who prefer CMake over the autoconf tool chain.