My thoughts on Slackware, life and everything

KDE 4.7.4 – last of the 4.7 series

The KDE team has already released two betas of the upcoming KDE 4.8, but I am not so much in a hurry. First things first! There is the last update in the 4.7 series, which was released earlier today. The Slackware KDE 4.7.4 packages are ready and you can grab them if you like.

For those who are trying my 4.7 packages for the first time and wonder why the hell am I offering so many packages, please read my earlier post about KDE 4.7.0 which explains more about splitting KDE for Slackware into many more (and smaller) packages.

My packages have been compiled on Slackware-current. Even though several people had reported that previous KDE 4.7 packages worked fine on Slackware 13.37, there has been an incompatible update to slackware-current recently (the glibc package). As a result, these new KDE 4.7.4 packages will only work on slackware-current (64-bit and 32-bit). If you are running Slackware 13.37, then stick to your currently installed version of KDE, or install my 4.6.5 packages (or upgrade your Slackware to -current).

Read the accompanying README file for installation and upgrade instructions!

Some of the highlights of these KDE packages:

  • Since this is the last edition of KDE 4.7, I decided to add updated versions of KDE related packages that I do not usually include: amarok, skanlite, ktorrent. I have no idea when Slackware-current will start moving again, but this set of packages allows you to have a complete, stable and up to date KDE environment for the time to come.
  • There are several updated dependencies compared to Slackware’s own KDE 4.5.5: PyQt, QScintilla, akonadi, attica, clucene, ebook-tools, hunspell, libdbusmenu-qt, phonon, polkit-qt-1, qt, raptor2, rascal, redland, shared-desktop-ontologies, sip, soprano, strigi, system-config-printer and virtuoso-ose.
  • In comparison with my previous KDE 4.7.3 the number of updated dependencies is a much smaller: attica, libktorrent, libmsn, and soprano. Note that libktorrent is now located in “deps” instead of “kde” directory because it has become a dependency for more than just ktorrent.
  • KDE dpendencies that are not part of Slackware 13.37 at all (yet): grantlee, herqq, libatasmart, libbluedevil, libssh, phonon-gstreamer, phonon-xine, sg3_utils and udisks. Note that I added phonon-gstreamer and phonon-xine only after I had already released KDE 4.7.0 packages because people reported that they no longer had sound. These two packages solve that issue.

Also worth mentioning is some stuff which is not completely new, since I added these to previous releases of KDE 4.7 already (but if you are new to KDE 4.7 this will certainly interest you):

  • You will find some additional useful new applications, which are not part of the KDE core set. They are new, compared to Slackware’s own version of KDE. I already added bluedevil to my 4.6.5 package-set. Bluedevil is the new KDE bluetooth stack with a nice GUI, based on the BlueZ libraries already present in Slackware. And with KDE 4.7.0, I included kplayer, a KDE front-end to MPlayer. With KDE 4.7.2, I added Quanta Plus, which disappeared from KDE4 because that migrated from Qt3 to Qt4. It is now being worked on again, but no longer as a standalone application – instead it is available as a plugin to the Kdevelop Platform. And with KDE 4.7.3, I added a native WICD applet for KDE, called “wicd-kde“. It can replace the GTK based “wicd-client” which is part of the wicd package.
  • I also added oxygen-gtk, which is not really an application, but a theme engine. It (optionally) makes GTK applications visually blend in with KDE’s own Oxygen theme. There is a README in its documentation directory which explains how to enable it.
  • Since KDE 4.7.2, I include a “test” directory. This directory contains Networkmanager, plus some other dependencies, that allow to create a KDE package for “networkmanagement” which is an applet plus a kcontrol (i.e. a plugin for KDE’s systemsettings). This test, which sofar has proved to be quite successful, allows you to switch from WICD to NetworkManager as your basic network management service. The applet plus kcontrol make it quite easy to configure your network in KDE (wired, wireless, vpn, dsl and mobile broadband). No new Gnome libraries had to be added for this (NM itself plus its supporting tools have no dependency on the rest of Gnome). I have added NM installation/configuration instructions to the README.

A small aside I want to mention:

There was one bug that has been plaguing me ever since KDE 4.7.0 (and I may have had this occasionally before 4.7 but I cannot remember for certain). The bug seems to be ALSA related, but unsure is whether the fault is with ALSA or with KDE. The “kde deamon (kded4)” crashes every time when I login to KDE. Surely, it will automatically restart but it is ugly. It was still there in KDE 4.7.3 and it is described in these two bug reports:

There is a workaround though. If you disable “KMixD Mixer Service (kmixd)” from being started at logon, the crash does not occur anymore and so far I have not found any lost functionality. My laptop’s hardware volume keys still work, and the KDE mixer applet is still functional. Go to System Settings > Startup and Shutdown > Service Manager, and remove the check in the checkbox for KMix Daemon.

The KDE 4.7.4 packages for Slackware-current are available for download from my “ktown” repository and several mirrors (taper will be in sync when I post this, the other mirrors will have to catch up):

Have fun! Eric

53 Comments

  1. David

    Thanks a lot Eric!

    Are you planning to build KDE 4.8 packages?

  2. Nille

    I tried it on 13.37 but it didn’t work.
    It complains about glibc version.

  3. alienbob

    Ah of course… there was an incompatible glibc update in slackware-current. That is unfortunate.

    I will edit the main article to point this out.

    Thanks, Eric

  4. alienbob

    David, I will build KDE 4.8 packages when the sources for 4.8.0 are released, but not for any of the Betas or RCs.

    Eric

  5. Timmy

    Very fast! Thank you, sir.

  6. manciuleas

    Hi Eric,

    Thank you for the packages.
    I encountered an issue when trying to recompile kdebase-runtime, the configuration script printed the following warning:
    rpc library
    library routines for remote procedure calls
    Needed to build the NFS kioslave
    I searched and found out that the glibc-2.14.1 is missing the RPC headers from /usr/include/rpc. They are however present in glibc-2.13. Do you know of the reason they’re missing? Probably no program requiring XRPC would compile.

    Regards,
    Sebastian

  7. Hannibal

    @manciuleas
    In glibc 2.14 RPC was removed as deprecated. Glibc developers recomended to install ti-rpc library.

    I’m already notify Pat about that. I hope he add it or patch 2.14 to readd RPC ASAP.

  8. StreamThreader

    Thanks !!!

  9. Helios

    @Hannibal
    The problem is that the compilation of libtirpc ends with the error :
    auth_time.c:46:24: fatal error: rpcsvc/nis.h: No such file or directory

  10. BroX

    Thanks for your efforts!

    Is it just me, or is this release quite a bit snappier?

  11. manciuleas

    @ Hannibal & Helios
    You can check this thread (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/glibc-rpcsvc-vanished-in-l-glibc-2-14-1-i486-2-txz-913702/) to find out how to build tirpc for Slackware.

  12. Mike

    Would it work to compile 4.7.4 on 13.37?

  13. GArik

    The thing, that I don’t understand, is what’s the point of splitting kde into several small pieces if still with every minor release developers upload new tarballs for every component and maintainers need to rebuild all the kde stuff from ground up. This is stupid!

  14. Nille

    @Mike i can’t see why it shouldn’t work, so try.
    Or i can post the answer when i am done compiling

  15. alienbob

    GArik – complain to the KDE team who thought this was the best way to support distros.

    One advantage to some people is that yu can decide not to install some of the KDE programs. I do not belong to those people.

    Eric

  16. alienbob

    Mike, Nille,

    Of course you can compile KDE 4.7.4 on Slackware 13.37.

    Eric

  17. escaflown

    Thanks Eric!

  18. aocab

    Thanks Eric for these packages.

    I decided to upgrade to Slackware current so I could test out your KDE packages. So I upgraded from 13.37 to current. Installed your KDE 4.7.3 packages. And the next day you have packages for KDE 4.7.4.

    I had no major problems (just a few minor quirks) with the upgrade/installs except for a problem with the printer configuration (which appears to have already been reported).

    “The service ‘Printer Configuration’ does not provide an interface ‘KCModule’ with keyword ‘system-config-printer-kde/system-config-printer-kde.py’…”

    But since I do not use a printer on this system I can just ignore the problem.

    I’ve worked through most of the quirks. Some appear to be changes to the system and not really quirks per se.

    So now I am running Slackware current with your KDE 4.7.4 packages.

    The whole process was simple and easy.
    2ThumbsUp!
    Cheers

    Quirks I’m still looking into:

    Duplicate entries for some shortcuts:
    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/831/plasmashortcutsettingsp.jpg/

    Root drive listed in dolphin with an option to unmount:
    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/259/rootdrivelistedindolphi.jpg/

    Again, thanks for all your hard work.

  19. amigib

    networkmanagement applet stop working, in system settings everything is fine (NetworkManager works) but in system tray it is saying “No network interfaces”
    Recompiling networkmanagement didn’t help :/

    Anyway i managed to compile newest networkmanagement but it needs extra dependency libmm-qt, libnm-qt and NetworkManager => 0.9, looks like it works now, weird

  20. amigib

    Oh, i almost forgot, thanks for KDE packages 🙂

  21. escaflown

    I have the same issue as amigib. NetwokManager applet stopped working and is reporting “No network interfaces”. I can still see through ifconfig that I’m connected and have a proper IP.

  22. Widya Walesa

    i also have this networkmanagement problem after KDE upgrade. it seems that KDE Information Sources didn’t register networkmanagement service on login.

    same with amigib, rebuilding NetworkManager (using version 0.9.2.0) and networkmanagement (using version 0.9.0_rc3) solved the problem.

    anyway, thanks for the update.

  23. Arvent

    Thank You, Eric. Great work!

  24. Victor

    Gracias Eric =). Me encanta Slackware!

  25. alienbob

    Guys, that is weird.

    Who is running 32-bit and who is running 64-bit slackware-current and has these issues with networkmanagement?

    I run 64-bit Slackware and have not seen this issue at all.

    Eric

  26. David

    Which issue? 🙂

    Slackware 64, no problems.

  27. kukukk

    Hi,

    I’m running 32-bit Slackware -Current and I have that issue with NatworkManager. NetworkManager says “No network interfaces”, but it is connected to my wireless network…

  28. Widya Walesa

    I’m using slackware32 and got the same issue on NM

  29. escaflown

    Yes, it is wierd. I upgraded today to kde 4.7.4 on my slackware64-current and the NM applet is working fine there. It still dosn’t work on the box with slackware-current.

  30. Michelino Chionchio

    Slackware32 -current, same issue

  31. alienbob

    Looks like I did something wrong with the 32-bit build.

    Can someone with this issue try recompiling kde-workspace?
    Inside the “source/kde” directory you need to run the followinf command as root, which will rebuild kde-workspace and install it automatically direcly afterwards:

    # ./KDE.SlackBuild kdebase:kde-workspace

    I think I forgot to install NetworkManager before I compiled it myself – if NetworkManager is already is installed, kde-workspace adds support for NM. You can then install kde-workspace in a computer which does _not_ have NM at all and it will work problem-free. That is why I no longer have a separate kde-workspace package in the “test” directory… it is not needed.

    If I get confirmation that rebuilding kde-workspace fixes it, I will rebuild mine to and upload the fixed version.
    Also if Pat decides to fix Slackware’s glibc-2.14 then I will rebuild kde-runtime as well so that it adds the NFS kioslave.

    Eric

  32. kukukk

    Rebuilding kde-workspace solved the NM applet problem for me…

  33. amigib

    Same here 32bit-Current. Damn, probably recompiling kde-workspace would be enough, oh well, at least i got newest NetworkManager.

  34. Michelino Chionchio

    Rebuild kde-workspace resolve

  35. alienbob

    Thanks people for the testing,
    I have rebuilt the 32-bit kde-workspace package in the presence of NetworkManager, and uploaded it to my repository.

    Cheers, Eric

  36. rvdboom

    Just for the record, the new packages seem to have fixed the issue I had with the 7.4.3 packages, with kmail hanging while synchronizing mix folders. I don’t really understand where the problem comes from, apparently more from kmail than akonadi, contrary to my belief.
    Thanks!

  37. Mudrec

    HI, I am using x64 version on current and it is working great.

    I have one appeal 🙂 : may I ask a help about installing easystroke. Because when I install needed libs from slacky.eu the program runs, but it hangs when add new gesture with key or button option. In the console gives me the following erorrs:
    ” (easystroke:20205): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: Object class gtkmm__CustomObject_17CellEditableAccel doesn’t implement property ‘editing-canceled’ from interface ‘GtkCellEditable’

    (easystroke:20205): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: Object class gtkmm__CustomObject_17CellEditableDummy doesn’t implement property ‘editing-canceled’ from interface ‘GtkCellEditable’ “

  38. alienbob

    Hi Mudrec

    I do not support packages downloaded from other sites. You could open a thread at http://linuxquestions.org/ for your issue with “easystroke”

    Eric.

  39. Nille

    It’s working great here 🙂
    But i upgraded to current because i got an build error on 13.37 libktorrent (FindKDE4Internal.cmake).
    Thanks for keeping my kde up to date.

  40. Boni Xavier

    Can’t find your kplayer packages or SlackBuild anywhere.

  41. alienbob

    Oh my… I forgot to re-add the kplayer package.
    I have not rebuilt kplayer between KDE 4.7.3 and 4.7.4 and it failed to get my attention when I was copying old stuff over from the 4.7.3 tree.
    Thanks for reminding me. It’s being fixed.

    Eric

  42. alienbob

    @ Boni Xavier –

    By the way, there is no more separate kplayer.SlackBuild. It is now being built as part of the modular KDE build.
    If you want to rebuild only kplayer, use:

    # ./KDE.SlackBuild extragear:kplayer

    Eric

  43. Boni Xavier

    Thanks Eric, I see it there now. Take care.

  44. Fellype

    I compiled all kde packages and deps on Slack 13.37 using Erick’s SlackBuilds (thanks Erick) and all things are working fine.
    I had only one issue during the compilation process with the kdenetwork module. But it was solved after an upgrade of libmms (0.5 -> 0.6.2).

  45. Yabazakra

    after kde update to 4.7.4 x use 90% cpu of quad core after update is there a way to go back to 4.5.5, slackpkg breaks kde

  46. Nille

    I had problems with kppp always hangs when i tried to connect.
    But networkmanager works.

  47. Nille

    Is it possible to update mobile-broadband-provider-info-20110511.tar.bz2 to next time since it’s a bit old?

  48. Yabazakra

    unblacklist kde packages
    slackpkg update
    slackpkg upgrade-all
    slackpkg clean-system
    slackpkg install-new
    slackpkg install kde
    now back at 4.5.5

  49. Doctor Fungus

    Eric, thank you very much.
    But could you please add bluedevil to the packages?

  50. alienbob

    Oops, I re-added the bluedevil packages to the “4.7.4” directory, sorry for the omission.

    Eric

  51. Doctor Fungus

    Thank you

  52. Doctor Fungus

    Hello, Eric!
    Sorry for interrupting, but I don’t know where else I could post this…

    Could you please start maintaining Clementine music player? I do not insist, but I think many people will support this idea. It’s rather uncomfortable to calculate and resolve dependencies by oneself to each package. So, if you have a little time, could you please make clementine package? I’ll be very grateful.
    If you’re going to contact me, my e-mail is zaptous@yandex.ru

    P.S. Pardon my English, I know it not very good 😉

  53. alienbob

    I am not interested in writing a SlackBuild script for Clementine and its dependencies, *and* properly maintaining it. I use VLC and am happy with that. Besides, it is inspired by Amarok which I think is one of the worst GUI programs I have encountered.

    Fortunately for you, there is a SlackBuild script for Clementine at http://slackbuilds.org/ which you can use: http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/audio/clementine/
    You will find all dependencies on SBo as well, that is how the site works.
    Eric

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