[dot] First Development Snapshot of KDE4: "Krash"

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1155935483/

From: Sebastian Kügler <sebas at kde.org>
Dept: get-your-fix-now
Date: Friday 18/Aug/2006, @14:11

First Development Snapshot of KDE4: &quot;Krash&quot;
=====================================================

   Today, KDE releases a first developer snapshot
[http://kde.org/info/3.80.1.php] of the  upcoming KDE4 release. This
snapshot is meant as a reference for developers  who want to play with
parts of the new technology KDE4 will provide, those  who want to start
porting their applications to the new KDE4 platform and  for those that
want to start to develop applications based on KDE4. This  snapshot is
not for end users, there is no guarantee that it will be stable,  the
interfaces are subject to changes at any time. The changes that have
gone  into the development version this snapshot is based on have all
happend under  the hood, little is visible yet. Now it is up to
application developers to use  the new possibilities. While this
snapshot will probably not be what kdelibs  will finally look like, it
should give a fair idea of what to expect.

     Developers can start porting their applications using this snapshot
and  investigate the new exciting technology. Highlights of this
snapshot include:

    * An initial port of kdelibs,
      kdebase and kdepimlibs to Qt 4
      [http://doc.trolltech.com/4.2/qt4-intro.html], 	 providing the
      developer with a wealth
      [http://zrusin.blogspot.com/2006/08/magic.html]  of
      [http://zrusin.blogspot.com/2006/08/svg-on-graphicsview.html]  new
      [http://zrusin.blogspot.com/2006/08/fun-with-svg.html]
      possibilities
      [http://zrusin.blogspot.com/2006/07/more-blurring.html].  This
      snapshot uses a preview of the upcoming Qt  4.2
      [http://doc.trolltech.com/4.2/qt4-2-intro.html].
    * DBus
      [http://wiki.kde.org/tiki-index.php?page=DBUS] will be the
      Inter-Process-Communication protocol used for KDE 4. This snapshot
      contains an  initial implementation. With the use of DBus, KDE
      will feature improved  interoperability with other applications on
      the Free Desktop. Porting applications to DBus is explained on the
      porting wiki page.
    * Phonon (documentation
      [http://www.englishbreakfastnetwork.org/apidocs/apidox-kde-4.0/kde
      libs-apidocs/phonon/html/index.html])
       is another central feature of KDE4 providing a  unified
      multimedia backend that offers an easy way for application
      developers to add multimedia capabilities to their applications.
    * CMake [http://www.cmake.org] (FAQ
      [http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_FAQ]) is the new buildsystem used
      for KDE4.

     Questions about KDE4 can be answered on various mailing lists such
as kde-devel [https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel] and
kde-buildsystem [https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-buildsystem],
as  well as on #kde4-devel on irc.kde.org. Documentation for getting up
to speed  with KDE4 development is available from a number
[http://wiki.kde.org/tiki-index.php?page=KDE4] of sources.
 [http://developer.kde.org/build/trunk.html]
     Work is continuing on other pillars of KDE4, such as our Plasma
[http://plasma.kde.org] desktop, Solid [http://solid.kde.org] hardware
layer, Oxygen [http://www.oxygen-icons.org] artwork theme and Decibel
[http://decibel.kde.org/] communication architecture.

     KDE development has never before been as exciting as it is today,
so start  hacking today!