Packaging a new KDE Software Compilation is verging on boring – believe it or not.

The KDE developers are so unbelievably focused on quality and co-ordination that preparing packages for the new release is a matter of checking the “kde-packagers” mailing list for messages about updated dependencies, adjusting the build scripts (disabling obsolete patches, bumping version numbers) and starting the build on a fresh clean virtual machine. It usually does not take more than a single pass to build all the packages for incremental releases.

Real investigative work is usually waiting around the corner only when jumping to a new major release (re-designing KDE.SlackBuild for the new modular build, almost two years back was a good example of that).

And today’s release of KDE SC 4.10.4 is no different – the packages were built without issues soon after I got hold of the sources. Now that the sources are available for public download, I have uploaded my Slackware 14 packages to the servers.

Note that these are built for – and should be used only on – Slackware 14.

I assume it will not take long for Pat to add KDE 4.10.4 to Slackware-current. So if you are running our development version of Slackware, just wait for Pat and do not install my packages – they will have issues on -current.

plasma-tasks-mini

KDE’s Dolphin File Manager

What to expect of KDE 4.10.4?

As with every incremental KDE release, this brings you “bugfixes and translation updates” and no new functionality. The over 50 recorded bugfixes include improvements to the Personal Information Management suite Kontact, the File Manager Dolphin, and others, according to the KDE 4.10.4 fix set.

How to upgrade to KDE 4.10.4?

You will find all the installation/upgrade instructions that you need in the accompanying README file. That README also contains basic information for KDE recompilation using the provided SlackBuild script. Please note that if you are not yet running one of my KDE builds, you should upgrade from a (preferably) full installation of Slackware 14. I had some feedback from Slackware users who installed Slackware 14, excluded the whole “KDE” package series from that installation, and then installed my KDE packages on top. That way, you will be missing a lot of packages, several of them essential to the proper functioning of KDE! If you skipped the whole KDE series and install my KDE packages, you still need to get these from a Slackware 14 package tree (the essentials are highlighted in blue):

amarok
k3b
kaudiocreator
kdevelop-pg-qt
kplayer
polkit-kde-agent-1
polkit-kde-kcmodules-1
wicd-kde

You are strongly advised to read and follow these installation/upgrade instructions!

Where to find packages?

Download locations are listed below (you will find the sources in ./source/4.10.4/ and packages in ./14.0/4.10.4/ subdirectories). Using a mirror is preferred because you get more bandwidth from a mirror and it’s friendlier to the owners of the master server!

Have fun! Eric