[KDE/Mac] kdesrc-build

[Marko Käning]

Hi Jeremy,

On 26 Nov 2014, at 06:07 , Ian Wadham <iandw.au at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2. There have even been some Qt 4 problems, e.g. raster graphics not fully finished on OS X, and
>     Apple menu layouts getting misconstructed, especially for plugins and KParts.

not to forget the theming issue! But luckily René created the kde4-workspace port
which now allows to install e.g. the qtcurve port which then enables you to set
the QtCurve theme in KDE’s native “System Settings”! This prevents you from a lot
of awful rendering trouble, which you natively will find with the standard
“Macintosh (aqua)” theme otherwise, e.g. in Kate!


> 3. We find KDE doubles up on or battlees with facilities that already have equivalents in OS X, e.g.
>     KWallet v. KeyChain, Baloo/Nepomuk v. Spotlight, KCookieJar v. Safari/Firefox.

This is where KF5 could actually gain from or play its cards of being platform-independently
modularised libraries and make use of existing facilities on some platforms.


> 5. AFAIK there has been no serious testing of KDE 4 on the Apple OS X platform for several years.
>     Some #ifdef code I have found (for Mac) has been written, but clearly not tested.  Marko's CI effort
>     is directed at this problem.

We even discussed setting up the qt4-part on my OSX/CI system, but I simply lack the
time, as a lot of patches have to be made to Qt4 to make it work on MacPorts. Well,
as with Qt5/KF5 now on my OSX/CI system it might be running smoother than I fear, but
I had no resources whatsoever to also get involved in there too. We do need backup and
support from more enthusiasts here!!!


> 6. Point 5 applies to KDE 4 code, lots of it, but the focus in the KDE community is strongly on KF5
>     and Frameworks, as it must be.  KDE 4 maintenance is now all but closed down, just during the
>     few months when all the problems with KDE 4 on Apple OS X have been at last coming to light.

KDE4 will still be around on MacPorts for a long time, as KDE3 was, so, this dying out
of support for it is quite horrible. I still remember the transition from KDE3 to KDE4
on MacPorts only 3 or 4 years ago. It was a nightmare and it would be great if it would
be different this time. Some long-time support for such essential libraries and apps
would be great and would keep KDE users happier on all platforms.


> 7. KF5/Frameworks is a long-distance view from Apple-land. Even when a substantial number of KDE
>     apps have been "ported", there will be a second porting required (to MacPorts/HomeBrew etc).

I hope not. (See my other post.)



Greets,
Marko