KDE 3.5.10 Updates Kicker and KPDF

The KDE community has finalised another update to the 3.5 series. While not a very exciting release, 3.5.10 brings numerous bugfixes and translation updates to those who choose to stay with KDE 3.5. The fixes are thinly spread across KPDF with a number of crash fixes, KGPG and probably most interesting various fixes in Kicker, KDE 3's panel.

  • Improved visibility on transparent backgrounds
  • Themed arrow buttons in applets that were missing them
  • Layout and antialiasing fixes in various applets

Note, as with every release, the changelog is not complete as our developers often forget to document their work. For users of KDE 3.5.9 it should be low-risk to upgrade to KDE 3.5.10 since the rules of what is to enter the KDE 3.5 branch are pretty strict at that point, it is in maintenance only mode.

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Comments

by Paul Eggleton (not verified)

Did that actually happen or are you just speculating? It sounds rather unlikely to me.

by Anon (not verified)

The implication that Plasma crashing would crash Kate as it is a child process (at least, I think that's what is implied: coherency is not the poster's strong suit :)) suggestions that it is a fictitious scenario concocted by someone who doesn't really know what they are talking about.

I'm very surprised to see such a thing on the Dot!!

by André (not verified)

So... let met get that strait...
You are saying that if some catastrophic bug somewhere in the base system triggers a crash in your application, and you take the time to report such a bug, you are an amateur?
That statement does not make a lot of sense to me. First off: an amateur in *what*? Second, I don't get why reporting a bug, grave or not, would reduce the reporter to amateurism. Third, I don't get why the inventor of D-bus is qualified in this way. D-bus is the successor to, and heavily based on, D-cop. It seems you quite happily use this (it is everywhere in KDE 3).
The unlikelyness your story (Nepomuk crashing plasma via D-bus, where kate is a clild process of plasma) I won't even go in to.

by dave (not verified)

"Nepomuk crashing plasma via D-bus, where kate is a clild process of plasma"

was that meaned serious?

by Elad Lahav (not verified)

Almost all criticism of KDE4 is brushed-off with the standard "Stop whining and do X" reply, where X escalates according to the complaint (1. open a bug report 2. Be more verbose 3. Fix the bug yourself 4. Write your own damn DE, etc.).

A few months ago I tried KDE4, and found out I could not use my dual-screen setup, which works with all other DEs and WMs I've tried (including KDE3). Like a good boy, I reported the problem (actually added to an existing bug report). No response. I then complied KDE from source, and submitted the relevant debugging messages, hoping it would facilitate in solving the problem. No response. I studied the code and submitted an initial patch that enabled the second screen. No response. In the meantime, the codebase has changed, and the patch no longer applies. Since option 4 in the escalating response sequence is unacceptable, I have to stick with KDE 3.5. How's that for negativity?

by dave (not verified)

link?

by Michael "silenc... (not verified)

I don't like the silence you were met with any more than you do, though if your messages sounded like complaints, then that's no good.

I'm sure this is a common question, but were you using KDE4.0 or KDE4.1. It would explain why the patch would not apply.

Adding to the bug report: Did you add any useful information? If it was just a "Me Too", then no response is needed.
Debug output: Did it actually crash? If so, I wouldn't be surprised if someone already uploaded it.
Patch: How did it function. If it's really mostly a workaround, then not accepting makes sense. If it applied with KDE4.0, that would also make sense. Just silence, again, is surprising and disappointing.

Also, the escalation: does it escalate depending on the emotion in the complain ("KDE4 SUCKS!" met with the "Make your own DE") or the serverity of the problem ("KDE4 performance is very poor on nVidia cards" met with the "Make your own DE"). The former makes sense, the latter is surprising.

by Elad Lahav (not verified)

1. I was using updated SVN versions (from the 4.1 branch), in order to keep up with the latest development.
2. No, it wasn't a "me too" addition.
3. There was no prior debug output.
4. The patch became invalid during development of the 4.1 branch. It's bad enough that the source is not documented, but changing infrastructure all of a sudden makes it quite difficult for people outside the core KDE development community to contribute.

You can look at the bug and my comments on bugs.kde.org. The bug number is 153581.

by Anon (not verified)

Are you accusing maintainers of removing posts? Can you prove that?

by Anon (not verified)

I've seen at least one post get deleted, but that particular post was a pure assault on one of the developers. I've not seen any standard, inoffensive "KDE is not perfect" posts get removed, though.

by jos poortvliet (not verified)

yeah. It does happen, but only when the discussion gets really bad (eg Holocaust references and such).

by Beat Wolf (not verified)

thats wrong, it usualy gets deleted for much less. I'm not flaming, and i think it's ok to delete some posts, just saying that much less than holocaust things have to be said that it happens. Perhaps a official policy should be made public?

by Spanky (not verified)

You know, the problem here (as often) is an either or (all or nothing) type thinking. In other words, both (dominate views) about KDE4.x are completely valid. I'm not saying everything can be both ways. I'm not saying it's good to "ride the fence" or to be "luke warm". I am saying this appears to be a situation where both are (by in large) correct.

On the one "side", we have people who are saying, do not stop KDE 3.x until we like KDE 4.x better. People are tired of getting "new" software system upgrades that they have not approved(see closed, outdated and SLOW endeavors such as Vista). People do not want the choice of left behind systems or only unfinished systems. Sound familiar? This side understands, stability and compatibility are paramount.

The other side is also "right". We can not be too afraid of change in our development. If we do, we'll always be stuck with legacy baggage. This also sounds familiar, doesn't it? Obviously, this requires stability and compatibility from the new KDE4.x and this is in fact what's promised and in process. Understanding here, that KDE is very large, complex and foundations are (very) important. The pillars and foundation are laid and from VERY hard work indeed. Still, this is not finished and it's in process.

The major problem (I think) could be, we have far more people sampling the development (Alpha RC or whatever) work BECAUSE open software is so much easier to install today. This is not a bad thing. It's a different thing. Perhaps (even more) extreme clarity about the unfinished nature should be trumpeted.

Therefore please understand, by in large, YOU ARE BOTH RIGHT! Not "either", "or". The problem is fear. Fear of the unknown. Perhaps we need more evidence that things will get done; in due time.

Developers have a great challenge. Fix it good! Plus, (without fail) make users FEEL good about the change. It might seem silly but it's critical at this stage. This is a new challenge to open development, It's had been falsely considered unnecessary. Obviously, I suggest we rethink the effort here. A PR (public relations) team sounds like a good idea to me. Being open to almost never ending volunteers, this need not burden (or slow) coders or testers, accept to coordinate. Collaboration is our strength. Let's apply it to (more) PR as well.

Users have a great challenge too. You are right. Yet do please, have a little faith (Evidence of things not seen). Don't forget. Development goes faster with open software, when compared to close software travesties. KDE 4 is not another Vista and I think this is what's on the minds of KDE 3 fans.

On a positive note. In a way, this is a nice problem to have. KDE is that good. Users are that many! Allot is at stake. Let's not fail, just because we might fail to see (by in large) both groups are generally correct.

Unite! Both parties need to concede to some of the others wishes. It's not a compromise but it's synergistic.

Is this making any sense, to anyone, or is it just me?

by Aaron Seigo (not verified)

makes all sorts of sense to me ...

by T. J. Brumfield (not verified)

I think it is great that KDE 4 got such a massive rewrite, and not just the porting to QT 4. I think things should be revisited and redesigned when the need arises. I'm glad that KDE 4 is looking towards the future. Many of the concepts in KDE 4 have me very excited.

That being said, I certainly don't always agree with the specific direction, nor do I find the current KDE 4 desktop a suitable replacement for _my_ KDE 3 desktop.

by an excited user (not verified)

For those who just want things to work and have already spent a lot of time tuning their systems, this is great news. Hope it will be available for FreeBSD soon... (Those who want the latest and greatest, don't mind occasional crashes/bugs, having a fairly new computer and a lot of free time to tune their systems again, will be more excited about 4.x.x releases.)

Thanks to the maintainers for their effort, I appreciate it!

by David Johnson (not verified)

The FreeBSD ports are being worked on now, and should be done soon.

by an excited user (not verified)

:)

by an excited user (not verified)

Yes! 3.5.10 is now available for FreeBSD, time to compile...

by KDE 4.1 (not verified)

Is it possible to have both branches in parallel?

by T. J. Brumfield (not verified)

KDE 3 and KDE 4, or KDE 3.5.9 and KDE 3.5.10?

The first you can do with certain distros (like openSUSE) and not others (like Fedora). The former, you can only do if you compiled them both manually, and configured them both to operate in different locations.

by Stefan Majewsky (not verified)

By the way, how do I do this? I know there is a KDEHOME variable or such, but if I set this to ~/.kde4, wouldn't that also apply to KDE 3 apps? Is there a compile-time switch for this.

by eimi (not verified)

In dual monitor setup you cannot maximize a window on the second, larger screen. Strange.

by Dick Cheney (not verified)

I experience this same bug. Running Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 with dual monitors as separate X screens with nvidia driver.

The laptop display, X Screen 0, works fine. However on the second monitor, X Screen 1, windows will not maximise (maximize) to full screen. Windows appear to maximise to the same size as the smaller laptop screen. A non-maximised window can be dragged to fill the screen.

I guess some bug is taking the dimensions from the wrong screen.