[Kde-print-devel] Status of KDEprint in 4.0, and offer of help

[John Layt]

Hi Cristian and the KDEprint team,

There has been some recent discussion on the core-devel list expressing 
concern about the state of KDEprint in KDE4.0, you can read the threads at 
http://lists.kde.org/?t=118859658700001&r=1&w=2 and 
http://lists.kde.org/?t=118873017700002&r=1&w=2.  A couple of people, myself 
included, have stuck up our hands as willing to help out on the boring bits 
if needed to get things cleaned up in time for 4.0.

Before we step on any toes, however, I thought it best to check with you on 
the status of things: how you see the state of KDEprint in 4.0, what you 
think needs to happen between now and 4.0, and if our help would be useful.

The problems identified in the threads seem to fall into 3 categories:
1) General fit and polish of the KDE4 port
2) UNIX domain socket support
3) Incomplete CUPS support

The last two probably require a level of expertise in KDEprint we can't offer 
(and are of debatable necessity for 4.0), but the first one is something we 
can help with, and is needed to be working.

Primarily, we need to be sure that people can perform their basic printing 
requirements in 4.0, i.e. print a document using CUPS.  Getting more advanced 
features to 100% while desirable for 4.0 could be deferred to 4.1 if needed.  

The first step though is to work out exactly where we are and what really 
needs doing.

Aaron has suggested we set up a page in the TechBase wiki to help co-ordinate 
efforts (probably under http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDEPrint).  The 
sorts of things we could do there are:
1) Matrix of KDEprint features to be tested under 4.0
2) Special hardware/software scenarios to be tested for 4.0
3) Links to bugs that must be fixed for 4.0
4) List of tasks to defer to 4.1
5) Migrate the developer documentation from printing.kde.org
6) Matrix of distro's, their cup's version, sockets usage, etc
7) etc...

Do you see this as being useful?  Do you have any existing resources or 
documentation for this that we can leverage off?

Cheers!

John.

P.S. One thing I have noticed in the Public API in KPrinter are methods marked 
as KDE_DEPRICATED or “For internal use only”.  Are these still needed in 
KDE4, or are they artifacts left over from KDE3 to be deleted or moved to 
private?  These are the sorts of issues that must be sorted in time for 4.0, 
after that we’re stuck with them due to the kdelibs BC and API policies.  I’d 
be happy to do a review of the public API for such issues to see if there is 
anything that can be done there (and compare to to the latest QPrinter as 
well).  I'm probably exposing my ignorance here, but how much of the API is 
supposed to be external public, there seems a lot of classes that are 
exported that perhaps really are internal use only?