[kde-linux] Another KDE 4.x print problem?

[Esben Mose Hansen]

On Wednesday 04 November 2009 12:26:08 Duncan wrote:
> Esben Mose Hansen posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:50:46 +0100 as excerpted:
> > For my money, you are looking for something a lot more stable than
> > Gentoo. I'd suggest running Debian stable, or perhaps Redhats
> > "enterprise" branch. I think you'd be happier there.
> 
> Ummm... I think not!  I'm on gentoo ~arch (unstable) and testing stuff
> before it even gets in the main gentoo tree at times for a reason -- I
> like leading, even bleeding, edge.

Yet you are emitting a constant stream of complaints about corner cases, which 
I'd rather expect to break on the edge. Especially on Gentoo, which only do 
minimal testing that the package versions actually work together. You know, it 
is not written anywhere that all software can compile with the newest version 
of gcc, nor will work against the newest version of any of its dependent libs. 
I seriously think you should move distribution to a more stable one, but if 
you will not, I suggest you restrict your complaints to reporting and fixing 
bugs.

> 
> That's rather the point.  I'm running gentoo, and a full kde4 now,
> /because/ I like leading/bleeding edge.  kde4 at 4.3 is pretty much the
> ideal time to cut over for people like me, those that actually like the
> sometimes bleeding edge, and are willing to deal with the issues it
> entails.  But 4.2 (even the last 4.2.4 which is when I got serious about
> the switch) was significantly stretching it, and I'd have waited for 4.3
> or even 4.4 if upstream kde3 support wasn't being dropped and "little"
> stuff like being able to compile it with the latest gcc and against the
> latest libs, and "little" things like security, becoming potential
> issues.  It was those "little" things that pushed me to kde4, while it
> was still rather early to switch even for someone who usually runs
> bleeding edge stuff and is accustomed to (and appreciates the challenge
> of) finding fixes and workarounds for all the broken stuff.

I've used KDE 4 from 4.1, and the only issue have been that dual-monitor setup 
was a bit strange at first. Not deal-breaking strange, but it had a lot of 
issues. Same with my wife, except that she (of course) isn't mucking around 
with dual monitors!

> The biggest problem, therefore, isn't folks like me that are accustomed
> to working with bleeding edge, but those who want it to "just work",
> which is what kde has pretty much claimed for kde4, from 4.2.  If people
> like me are having problems, $DEITY help the folks who just want what
> they run to work.

So you claim, but I doubt any normal users would encounter any of the issues 
you list, except the (distribution bug; version mismatch) about the error 
message to the hard-to-spell-to Akanoda. Nor has any "normal" users I know had 
major issues; the by far biggest complaints is the applications-crash-at-
shutdown-and-prevents-shutdown-to-complete. A "feature" that was present in 
the 3.5 series, too. Certainly very few normal users would dream of configuring 
extra multi-key shortcuts for launching stuff.

> 
> Even then, the issues with kde4 wouldn't be as big a problem if kde3 was
> continuing to be properly maintained for both security and with/against
> newer compilers and system libs.  It does seem the situation isn't as

Lol. No normal user is compiling source, at least not any user I'd consider 
normal. You are having problems due to your particular choice of distribution.

> drastic as it was initially turning out to be, with kde3 support
> apparently continuing due to KDAB sponsorship and etc, but apparently
> it's not at a level the major distributions seem to be comfortable with,
> as they're starting to drop it.  And the major distributions are exactly
> the types of places that these "ordinary users" are likely to be getting
> their kde, so if they're dropping it, from the user perspective, it's
> disappearing.

Move to KDE4, and learn to live with the new features and limitation. This is 
the same as it has always been with software, open source or commercial, and 
the way it will always be. 

-- 
kind regards, Esben