My thoughts on Slackware, life and everything

KDE updated to 4.7.3

Another month passes, and another maintenance release of KDE.arrives, we are up to 4.7.3 now. As usual, here are my KDE 4.7.3 packages for Slackware hot on the heals of the KDE team.

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. My educated guess is that you can use them on Slackware 13.37 too (several people have reported in various places that they are running my KDE 4.7.2 on Slackware 13.37 successfully).

Still:

Read the accompanying README file for installation and upgrade instructions!

Some of the highlights of these KDE packages:

  • 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 4.7.2 the number of updated dependencies is a bit smaller: akonadi, grantlee, libbluedevil, libssh, phonon, shared-desktop-ontologies and upower.
  • 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.

Not new since I added these to KDE 4.7.1 before (but if you are new to KDE 4.7 this will 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 this time, 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.
  • And right after releasing my KDE 4.7.2 packages, I added a “test” directory. The same test directory is also present in the 4.7.3 package set. It contains Networkmanager, plus some other dependencies, that allow to create a package for “networkmanagement” which is an applet plus a kcontrol (i.e. a plugin for KDE’s systemsettings). This allows you to switch from WICD to NetworkManager as your basic network management service. The applet plus kcontrol make it dead easy to configure your network (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 is 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 4.7.3 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

37 Comments

  1. LoneStar

    yayyy! New KDE!! Thanks Eric!

    and yeah, I have the kded4 crash bug too! I had learned to live with it. Going to test your proposed workaround right after upgrading. Take care.

  2. zbreaker

    Wow Eric, a new update so soon. You are the best.
    Many thanks as usual 🙂

  3. Andrey

    Hi Eric. Many thanks! About the ALSA related bug. I found another workaround. Go to Settings -> System settings -> Application and System Notifications -> Manage notifications -> Player settings -> Use an external player -> mplayer.

  4. escaflown

    Thanks Eric!

  5. Nille

    Thanks a lot Eric.
    I read about 4.7.3 been released and then checked your blog and you had it for us already 😀
    You’re almost to fast 😉

  6. kabamaru

    To Eric and everyone else: which is more solid, from your experience? Kde 4.5, 4.6, or 4.7 ? I’m about to a fresh Slack install on my desktop pc.

  7. Andre

    Thanks Eric!

    I’ve also had crashes on KDE startup since 4.7. Screen turned black after the the initial fade-in. I had to press ALT-F2 and restart plasma-desktop.
    For me it helped to disable the event display on the clock widget: Right click on your clock widget -and select Digital Clock Settings -> Calendar. There you can disable the “Display events” checkbox.

    I also had frequent crashes within nepomuk, amarok and a bunch of other apps which were all relataed to UPNP (herqq)
    I had to recompile kdelibs with -DWITH_HUpnp=OFF

    Now everything works fine and very stable at the moment.

  8. e-Zak

    Downloading now…

  9. Janis

    Yes, I am using Eric’s KDE 4.7.2 on 13.37 and as far as I can see – without problems (3 installations – 2 physical+VM)

  10. Arvent

    Another great work as always! Thank You for the updates.

  11. gmg

    Thanks, Eric

    juste a comment, it seem soprano-2.7.3, is recommanded for kde-4.7.3.

    http://soprano.sourceforge.net/node/59

    Gérard

  12. Mike Langdon (mlangdn)

    First – Thanks for the new packages.
    Second, I bit the bullet and upgraded to -current, except for the kernel. I’m gonna wait a bit on that, thinking that the kernel will get an upgrade again soon.

    Everything is running well this time!

  13. alienbob

    @gmg –

    Well, then Sebastian Trueg was a bit too late with that comment. Next time, he should mention stuff like that on the KDE Packagers mailing list perhaps. Well, it is only “recommended” and you can easily compile a new package for soprano if you want. The next time when I build KDE, I will update the soprano package too.

    Eric

  14. gmg

    Ok, Eric,

    Thanks.

    Gérard

  15. Wild Wizard

    Eric just upgraded and noticed that you have

    x86/deps/akonadi-1.6.2-i486-1alien
    x86_64/deps/akonadi-1.6.2-x86_64-1alien
    x86_64/deps/akonadi-1.6.2-x86_64-2alien

    Not sure which is which in x86_64 but I’m using the one with the higher build number

  16. alienbob

    @WildWizard

    Actually the “2alien” version was created with the wrong build number in the SlackBuild script. Both packages are the same, and I have now removed what I should have deleted earlier…

    Thanks for the feedback, Eric

  17. rvdboom

    Just for the record, after the upgrade, akonadi adamently refuses to synchronize some of my folders in my POP maildirs. This makes kmail useless as soon as get into these folders, which is too bad as most are essentially the target of my incoming mails. Need to look if it could be related.

  18. rvdboom

    To complete my previous message, I open bug 285809 in KDE’s bugzilla, and my problem seems related to this ML tread : http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-pim&m=131914522018596&w=2.
    I’ve tried to build soprano 4.7.3, but it doesn’t fix the problem for me, maybe the talked-about patch was not added yet.

  19. alienbob

    @rvdboom –

    That mutex patch was incorporated into soprano-2.7.3. See https://projects.kde.org/projects/kdesupport/soprano/repository/revisions/v2.7.3/changes/soprano/nrlmodel.cpp

    If it does not solve your problem, then the cause must lie elsewhere.

    Let’s see what comments you get to http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=285809

    Eric

  20. slayerwpww

    Working nicely on Slack 13.37 64bit. Thank you Eric!

  21. rvdboom

    @Eric,
    yes, I saw that, minutes after posting here… 😐 Sorry about that.
    Well, it doesn’t solve anything so I guess it’s something else. Thanks anyway. 🙂

  22. Felipe Weber

    Thank you very much yet again.

    Works on Slackware 13.37 vanilla, Slackware 13.37 running Kernel 3.1, and on Slackware-current running Kernel 3.1 (not that the Kernel version should matter, but anyhow)

  23. rsync

    Why I type rsync://alien.slackbook.org/alien/ktown/4.7.3/ it print “there isn’t such file “

  24. alienbob

    Hi “rsync”

    Naturally, “rsync://alien.slackbook.org/alien/ktown/4.7.3/” is not a command you can just type and hope that something happens. It is only the URI.

    A full command that will download everything goes like this (and do not forget the “dot” at the end of the command!!):

    rsync -av –progress rsync://alien.slackbook.org/alien/ktown/4.7.3 .

    Eric

  25. LoneStar

    how is wicd-kde supposed to work? I don’t see any binary in /usr/bin and no other specific way to start it…
    I was using a previous version compiled from 0.2.2 sources and it had a /usr/bin/wicd-kde binary

  26. alienbob

    @LoneStar

    You unlock the KDE widegets first, then you click “Add widgets…” and in the selection menu you search for “WICD widget” and add that to your panel.
    The widget allows you to configure, and connect to, the various wireless and wired networks in your reach.

    Generic WICD daemon’s properties are managed through a System Settings applet: “System Settings > Network Connections > Wicd preferences”. This dialog can also be accessed from within the WICD widget

    Eric

  27. LoneStar

    ahh so now it’s a widget, no longer a binary daemon minimized to tray…

    Thanks for the clarification Eric!

  28. rvdboom

    Eric,
    my problem seems actually related to this bug which seems a lot more active than the one I reported : https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=285676.
    Several people seem hit by it, so I expect the problem to being worked on.

  29. KupoB

    Hi Eric,

    As always big “thanks” for your efforts and contribution!

    Just two things are bothering me.

    1. The audacious segfaults with:

    Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
    0xb290bb7c in Oxygen::ShadowHelper::registerWidget(_GtkWidget*) () from /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/liboxygen-gtk.so
    (gdb) where
    #0 0xb290bb7c in Oxygen::ShadowHelper::registerWidget(_GtkWidget*) () from /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/liboxygen-gtk.so
    #1 0xb290bd5f in Oxygen::ShadowHelper::realizeHook(_GSignalInvocationHint*, unsigned int, _GValue const*, void*) () from /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/engines/liboxygen-gtk.so
    #2 0xb76614a3 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #3 0xb766a626 in g_signal_emit_valist () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #4 0xb766a7d2 in g_signal_emit () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #5 0xb7caff2b in gtk_widget_realize () from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
    #6 0xb7cbc0f0 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
    #7 0xb26fec95 in ?? () from /usr/lib/audacious/General/skins.so
    #8 0xb766af9c in g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOID () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #9 0xb764d587 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #10 0xb764ec32 in g_closure_invoke () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #11 0xb766132e in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #12 0xb766a626 in g_signal_emit_valist () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #13 0xb766a7d2 in g_signal_emit () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #14 0xb7cb1112 in gtk_widget_show () from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
    #15 0xb7cbffb9 in gtk_window_present () from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
    #16 0xb2717205 in mainwin_show () from /usr/lib/audacious/General/skins.so
    #17 0xb271a655 in action_show_player () from /usr/lib/audacious/General/skins.so
    #18 0xb766af9c in g_cclosure_marshal_VOID__VOID () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #19 0xb764ec32 in g_closure_invoke () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #20 0xb7661bb8 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #21 0xb766a626 in g_signal_emit_valist () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #22 0xb766a7d2 in g_signal_emit () from /usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
    #23 0xb7a9b1b5 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
    #24 0xb7c4abf6 in gtk_toggle_action_set_active () from /usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
    #25 0xb2717230 in mainwin_show () from /usr/lib/audacious/General/skins.so
    #26 0xb26f7acc in skins_init () from /usr/lib/audacious/General/skins.so
    #27 0x08056b19 in ?? ()
    #28 0xb7467ec6 in __libc_start_main () from /lib/libc.so.6
    #29 0x08051d21 in ?? ()
    Looks like it’s oxygen related and/or oxygen-gtk

    2. When I play music with Amarok the plasma continuously restarts itself after a short period of hanging.

    And fresh ideas how to cure any of the above?

    Regards,

    Boyan

  30. alienbob

    Amarok would probably need a rebuild to cure this. For Audacious, perhaps the same applies. I see that you are running this on Slackware 13.37, perhaps this is one of the spots where my packages built for slackware-current have issues on Slackware 13.37.

    Eric

  31. KupoB

    Hi Eric,

    No I’m at the latest -current. What makes you think I’m using 13:37, perhaps I’ve missed a package?

    Regards,

    Boyan

  32. alienbob

    KupoB, You are right… I thought that the directory “/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0” was 13.37 specific but I see now that it is present in the newer gtk+2 package of slackware-current as well. I thought I had checked this… apparently not.

    Audacious on -current does not crash here, and I do use oxygen-gtk myself.
    I can not offer anything for Amarok except for the rebuilding advice – I do not use Amarok and I do not include it in my “ktown” KDE package set either.

    Eric

  33. KupoB

    Had same problems as Andre, recompiling kdelibs with UPnP support for Solid turned off really helped. Thanks for the tip.

  34. gmg

    Litle report:

    Package, perlqt and perlqt, have lib path, in
    /usr/local

    package, qtruby, seem to be lynked on other version of qscintilla

    libqscintilla2.so.6 => not found

    Gérard

  35. gmg

    Sorry 😉

    Package, perlqt and perlkde, have lib path, in
    /usr/local

    Gérard

  36. alienbob

    Hi gmg

    Thanks for noticing that.

    I have added two cmake scripts “4.7.3/source/kde/cmake/perlkde” and “4.7.3/source/kde/cmake/perlkde” which will fix that Perl “/usr/local” path when you rebuild these two packages:

    You can use the following command to recompile just perlqt and perlkde if you have KDE 4.7.3 installed already and have the sources too:

    # ./KDE.SlackBuild kdebindings:perlqt,perlkde

    I am not sure if I will add rebuilt packages to KDE 4.7.3 myself, perhaps I will wait for KDE 4.7.4. But you can use the above instructions to fix it for yourself in KDE 4.7.3.

    Cheers, Eric

  37. gmg

    Thanks, Eric 😉

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