KDE 4 modules structure (again) (was: structure of kde cvs modules, was Re: libkipi in kdesupport)

[Alexander Neundorf]

On Tuesday 16 March 2004 01:01, Richard Moore wrote:
...
> process for developers (a scarce resource) a nightmare and would make it
> almost impossible to ensure that everyone is working with consistent
> versions leading to horrendous version skew within the core of KDE.

One important point in your statement is "within the core of KDE."
I also don't favour splitting the modules too much.
But currently what is "the core of KDE" ?
IMO kstars, kpovmodeller, quanta, kdevelop, amor and other things like this 
are not the "core" of KDE. They are very good applications, but they are not 
the core of a desktop.
When KDE was started, the basic applications were grouped mainly according to 
their "topic": kdenetwork, kdegraphic, kdemultimedia. Nowadays these modules 
have grown very much and include much more than just basic desktop 
environment applications.

IMO the modules should be reorganized also according to their role within KDE,
so: 
-things that are framework, which has to be installed to be able to run and 
develop kde apps: libs, ioslaves, some kparts, dcop, ...
-basic applications: konsole, konqueror, kfind, kate/kwrite, ...
-the desktop environment: kwin, kdesktop, ksmserver, kdm, ...
-applications: kdepim, kdeedu, koffice, kdegames, ...

The "desktop environment" should depend on the "basic applications", to ensure 
that you have konsole and konqueror if you have the KDE desktop. OTOH no 
application should depend on the desktop environment, to ensure that you can 
run koffice without the kde desktop.
Some modules which are currently existing like e.g. kdemultimedia would be 
split: they contain framework stuff (the sound server), they contain basic 
stuff (kmix), and they contain advanced stuff (... noatun ?).

So, dependancies:

    kdeframework
    |          | 
kdebaseapps    any other applications/modules
    |
kdedesktop

kdeframework would contain the current kdelibs and some more stuff. Current 
kdebase would be split into kdebaseapps and kdedesktop. kdebaseapps would get 
some new members from kdemultimedia, kdenetwork and others. Some things could 
leave kdebase and go into kdeaddons (e.g. some kicker plugins, maybe also 
some konqy plugins). kdedesktop would contain mainly stuff from kdebase. 
kdepim, kdeedu, koffice and others would fit into "any other apps/modules".

What do you think about this ?

Bye
Alex
-- 
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