[KDE/Mac] Help with installation on Xquartz via Fink

[Ian Wadham]

Hi Larry,

On 14/09/2014, at 7:46 PM, René J.V. Bertin wrote:
> What Qt and KDE versions are you using?
> Qt4 no longer builds for X11 on OS X since version 4.4.x or so, and that limits the version of KDE you can use.
> Q_WS_X11 being obsolete on OS X, KDE has been moving to a more native/integrated approach on OS X too. So recent kde-workspace packages (which contain kwin) will, on OS X, not build kwin and other parts that require X11 ... but are you using those or older versions?
> 
> R..
> 
> On Saturday September 13 2014 23:12:57 Anne & Larry Brunelle wrote:
>> Can anyone advise what to do next with this Mac installation?
>> 
>> Have installed Xquartz on Mavericks, have installed Fink and
>> Fink Commander successfully, and have installed every KDE
>> package I find listed.  Have reinstalled the kde-base
>> package.  But STILL cannot find startkde anywhere, nor
>> kwin, so I don't find any way of launching.

Further to what René had to say, KDE 4 on Apple Mac is based on
Qt-Mac 4.8 now.  This uses the Apple desktop, windows and widgets,
giving KDE and Qt applications the same look and feel as other apps.
So kwin and startkde do not apply. Also Apple OS X no longer uses
XQuartz (X11), although some open-source apps still do.

>> In past years, I've installed Fink and KDE on several Macs,
>> and it was as close to easy as this sort of thing gets,
>> but this time, I think something is missing.

AFAIK Fink has been in the doldrums for 3 years or more and has
old versions of open-source software and has probably not kept
up-to-date with newer versions of OS X (Lion, Mountain Lion,
Mavericks). I have only heard that: I have not tried Fink myself.

Currently active and up-to-date providers of open-source software
on Apple OS X (including KDE 4) are MacPorts and Homebrew.
René and I and others on this mailing list are using MacPorts.

Making the switch from Fink to another provider could be a big
job for you. So it's your decision and I guess it depends on what
exactly it is that you want from KDE software.

If you want the KDE desktop, Linux-style, that also has changed
and is still changing, and there are other ways to get it on a Mac,
such as a virtual Linux machine or a dual-boot of Linux/OSX. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REFIt
http://refit.sourceforge.net/
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/

Hope this helps.

All the best, Ian W.