KDE Print - getting involved

[John Layt]

On Wednesday 21 January 2009 20:35:57 David Ledvinka wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I wonder if there is any way I could help developing KDE Print.
>
> I'm C/C++ developer but I don't have any experience with developing open
> source software. Please let me know if you think I might be of some help.
>
> Best regards,
> David Ledvinka

Hi David,

Welcome!

[Note: I've placed some useful links at the end]

Generally the way you get involved in an open source project is to just jump 
in and start working on something that takes your fancy, which is why I guess 
you're here :-)  Start small, try submitting bug-fixes to an areas that 
interest you, and after a bit when you have gained the confidence of the 
community you can apply for svn rights.  See techbase.kde.org for more 
details, especially http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute.

Unfortunately the KDEPrint project is mostly dead, it's only used in KDE3 and 
that is in maintenance mode.  You could try doing bug fixes, but to be honest 
that would probably be a waste of your time as we are not certain there will 
even be another  KDE3 bug-fix release, let alone it being a dead end for you.

In KDE4 we have switched to using the Qt toolkit print facilities for 
applications to print with, and the system-config-printer admin backend for 
configuration.  There are areas here that do need help.

The printer admin tools, printer-applet and system-config-printer-kde, are 
written in Python by Jonathon Riddell of Kubuntu fame and while they are 
shaping up well he needs help to make them feature-complete.  

What we really, really miss however is a replacement for the KDE3 tool 
kprinter, and to a far lesser extent kprintfax.  kprinter is a command line 
tool that allows you to print any file supported by CUPS and is a much loved 
tool.  Whoever writes a new version of this using Qt4/KDE4 will be worshipped 
by the community :-)  In fact, there's a bunch of cool tools/features that 
people have requested that could be added to such a tool, like a manual duplex 
wizard, that would create a more general KPrintShop utility.

There are features we miss from the Qt Print Dialog that I've been working on, 
and hopefully the Qt development process will open up soon and allow us to 
help them get these implemented.

There is an effort in the OpenPrinting project to design a next generation 
print dialog that may need some help, but I don't know where they are up to.

If you're into low-level coding, then the underlying print system CUPS may 
even need some help.

From an education point of view, you will need to know something about the 
CUPS print system and the traditional LPD/LPR print system, and obviously the 
Qt print system and system-config-printer.  Getting to know how KDE works as a 
whole is valuable too as any work you do needs to fit in properly.  

To get started, I'd suggest finding another more active area of KDE4 to help 
bug-fix so you can find your way around and learn the processes, then have a 
crack at whatever in printing takes your fancy.

I'm halfway through writing a status update blog about printing, I'll cc a 
copy here when done.

Cheers!

John.

http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute

http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting
http://www.cups.org/
http://doc.trolltech.com/4.2/printing.html
http://cyberelk.net/tim/software/system-config-printer/
http://utils.kde.org/projects/printer-applet/development.php
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=179436
http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3676

Old KDE3 documentation that has some useful background info:
  http://docs.kde.org/kde3/en/kdebase/kdeprint/index.html
  http://printing.kde.org/