KDE crash manager additions, architecture issues

[Brad Hards]

On Thursday 09 October 2008 12:02:48 am Wolf S. Kappesser wrote:
> >>I want to add some features to the kde crash manager. The documentation
> >> of the kdelib source are quite "rare". Please give me some informations
> >> about the internal structure of the kde system and the dependencies to
> >> the systemkernel (linux). Please keep in mind the focus to topics and
> >> answers related to k crashmanager.
> >
> > You haven't really asked a question, or told us what you are trying to do
> > (e.g. what kind of features), or what level of background you have, or
> > what problems you have, so this is necessarily a bit generic:
>
> Does there a class which implements the crash manager (kcm)?
Its not a single class. Look in kdebase/runtime/drkonqi/
There is also a part in kdelibs: see below for links.

> How it named?
drkonqi and kcrash seemed applicable.

> How does interact KDE with the underlying (Linux-)kernel?
Nothing special. Seems fairly portable.

> How can I encapsulte the kcm to modify it? (see below)
Don't know, suggest you read the code. It might not be possible.

> (Want to add some generic and optional sys spec infos to the submitted
> email bug report for my convenience)
Don't know how to do that.

> >  - you should start with Techbase: http://techbase.kde.org/Development
> >  - kdelibs is, as the name suggests, a set of libraries. The API
> > documentation for those libraries and other parts of KDE is found at
> > http://api.kde.org/ - for many parts of KDE, you may have to read the
> > source code to understand the functionality and architecture.
>
> Yes I visited techbase. But there no doxyfile or so, I am right? :(
There is. As I wrote above "The API documentation for those libraries and 
other parts of KDE is found at http://api.kde.org/"
http://api.kde.org/4.x-api/kdelibs-apidocs/kdeui/html/kcrash_8cpp-source.html
http://api.kde.org/4.x-api/kdelibs-apidocs/kdeui/html/namespaceKCrash.html

> Secondary it is waste of time search the hole code to get complex
> structure infos if there is only five+ sentence by a developer needed to
> show me things work.
But you'll learn much more by figuring out how KDE is organised if you do the 
work yourself. In any case, I had to do the searching to advise you - I've 
never looked at it before.

> >  - you may be able to do what you are looking for without modifying the
> > libraries, using a plugin or special handler. Check for that before
> > getting too much into the source (remembering that KDE requires source
> > and binary compatibility).
>
> Therefore I can use kplugin or kpart, I am right?
Probably not in this case. You need to read the specific code you are trying 
to modify in order to check how you can work with it.

Brad