[kde-solaris] KDE without root permissions

[Joerg Delker]

Hi Folks,

this may be a FAQ, but unfortunately I didn't find a solution for this yet.

The bottom line is:
How can one run KDE without having root permissions?

Every installdoc of a compiled tarball or sun package I encountered so 
far, assumes to have root capabilities, but in some IT-environments it's 
just not possible to gain root access, neither have the chance to get 
KDE installed by a root admin.

So what I'm looking for is a install procedure for an unpriviledge user, 
that will result in a somewhat properly working KDE installation.

I understand that there may be issues which ultimatively *require* root. 
Question with that: Is there a workaround, and if not, which "feature" 
is affected by that (which may be eventually neglectable for some).

I did a successful (unpriviledged) install of KDE 3.1.x some rather long 
time ago, which runs satisfying under this circumstances, so I've still 
hope that there is a chance with newer versions, too.

Now it's time to upgrade (KDE 3.2.x or even 3.3), but first attempts to 
install failed unpleasently.
(Sorry for being unspecific here, but I don't remember the exact error 
and don't have the chance to do this again currently).

Obstacles I remember:
* relocation of KDEDIR to some "unpriviledge" directory (by using 
LD_LIBRARY_PATH)
* getting everything started up correctly in startkde (dcopserver, etc.)

Since, I will retry this again in couple of days, I want to gather as 
much information about this as possible.
So any hints, references, feedback is welcome!

Regards,
Joerg