Proposed Timetable for KDE 3

While we anxiously await the release of KDE 2.2
in two weeks,
Waldo Bastian,
the current KDE release coordinator, has
posted the proposed schedule for the release of KDE 3. The upshot:
KDE 2.2.1 is scheduled for September 2001 and KDE 3.0 for January
2002. The full schedule is available below.

 


From:
  Waldo Bastian <[email protected]>


To:
  [email protected]


Subject:
  RFC: The Road Ahead


Date:
  Mon, 23 Jul 2001 14:07:01 -0700

To wrap up the Qt3 discussion and to bring everyones expectations a bit in
line, here is a proposed time-table for the rest of this year:

  • Aug 2001: Release of KDE 2.2
  • Sep 2001: Release of KDE 2.2.1
  • Oct 2001: Development release, KDE 2.89 aka Qrash3.
  • Nov 2001: KDE 3.0beta1
  • Dec 2001: KDE 3.0beta2
  • Jan 2002: KDE 3.0 final

I suggest to switch KDE CVS to Qt3 after the release of 2.2.1.

If you would like to be the release dude for KDE 3.0, now is a good time to
step forward :-)

Cheers,
Waldo
--
Andrei Sakharov, Exiled 1980-1986, USSR, http://www.aip.org/history/sakharov/
Dmitry Sklyarov, Detained 2001-????, USA, http://www.elcomsoft.com/

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Comments

by Thomas (not verified)

I absolutely agree. Linux is known to be verry stable. So we should keep this advantage and not develop ANOTHER rich-featured, buggy System.
KDE is about as stable as my NT-Workstation I have to use at work: it does not crash often but still TOO often...

Please don't sacrifice stability for features and new *.0-Versions !

by not me (not verified)

>Please don't sacrifice stability for features and new *.0-Versions !

KDE is doing nothing of the kind! KDE 3 is basically a port of the existing KDE2 framework to QT3. It's nothing at all like the change from KDE 1 to KDE 2. Much of the existing code will probably make it through the transition essentially unchanged. So the stability of KDE 3 will probably be greater than KDE 2's stability (which is already better than Windows).

The reason for the big number change from 2 to 3 is an issue of compatibility. The KDE team wants to make it clear that programs written and compiled for KDE 2 will not work "out-of-the-box" with the next KDE. Making the version number 3 lets people know that it is not compatible. It is not compatible for a variety of reasons, including:

~QT 3 is slightly changed, breaking both source-code and binary compatibility.

~GCC 3.0 is coming out, which will break binary compatibility (now I hear something about 3.1 breaking compatibility too?)

~Now that the KDE libraries have seen real use, some minor API problems have been uncovered (of course). These can't be changed without breaking binary (and sometimes source) compatibility.

After KDE 3 comes out with an improved API, the KDE team hopes to standardize on it for a long time, allowing a large application base to grow, and allowing any remaining bugs to be fixed until KDE 3 is as stable as KDE 1.1.2!

by James Pole (not verified)

I agree.

There should be more time focusing on stablising KDE2 and making KDE2's memory usage smaller.

by Alan (not verified)

But when KDE3 comes out am I going to have ~/Desktop, ~/KDesktop, ~/Kdesktop3, ~/.kde, ~/.kde2, ~/.kde3, /opt/kde, /opt/kde2, /opt/kde3 ?
This is getting to be an awful mess - can/will the old stuff for KDE 1 be junked?
- Alan

by Jerome Loisel (not verified)

KDE developers have long stopped working on KDE 1.X... But no, no-one will log on to your computer and junk the old versions for you. You will have to do that part yourself. :-)

by 11223 (not verified)

This is your distribution's fault. If you compile KDE 2.x from source on a clean system, it goes into wherever you --prefix it, ~/.kde, and ~/Desktop.

Are you running SuSE? Complain to them.

by Mr. Bogus (not verified)

KDE2 was a rewrite. Almost everything changed from KDE1.
KDE3 is mostly going to be the same code recompiled to work with the improved QT3, glibc3 and libstdc++, hence the shorter time. It's (hopefully, 'cos I'll have to recompile KPooka ;> ) not going to be as major a change.

by Justin Hibbits (not verified)

This will probably become a flame really quickly, just please don't flame me.

Didn't it take the team 2 years from the release of KDE 1.0 to get to KDE 2.0? Now it's only taking them 1 year to go from KDE 2.0 to KDE 3.0. I think it's a little fast....I, too, have begun to question the stability/(release speed) trade-off, since I can't bear to use KDE 2.1 any more. Hey, I've actually found a site with KDE 1.1.2 source, the most stable KDE I've used. Anyone want the url? It's:

ftp://ftp.externet.hu/pub/linux/kde/stable/1.1.2/distribution/tar/generi...

I am getting probably the worst connection possible, but I don't care. It's only a one-time deal.

Enough ranting...

And KDE Team, SLOW DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELVES!

by David Faure (not verified)

Some people just don't understand the "release often" method, typical of opensource projects.
If we don't release often, then there is much _less_ polishing going on, developers would just go on and stack up new features. It's the _releases_ that 'force' people to think about quality.

Expect many improvements in terms of speed and stability in KDE 2.2. It's definitely faster than 2.1, I felt that when switching between the two. As for stability, I didn't find 2.1 unstable so I can't really say :)

by Justin Hibbits (not verified)

IMHO, the "release early, release often" method is to allow everyone to see what you've done lately. I would rather you make the "final" a beta, until you get positive feedback from at least people, who have tested it in several ways. Like, have people register to be "official testers" of certain areas, so that you will expect feedback from those people before you go ahead with the release. That way, you have several people with similar results, and if the results look good, change the beta into a final. That is probably a better solution than adding features at the last minute, or fixing bugs at the last minute, just to have a release.

Just my opinion.

by Pedro Ziviani (not verified)

As Qt3 will be available for Darwin/MacOSX, will KDE3 ever run on that platform? I can run GNOME apps and WindowMaker on my Mac, but I miss KDE...

by not me (not verified)

Not unless QT3/Mac is GPL'd...

by Leo (not verified)

I want KDE on my Mac.

For crying out loud. MacOS X was supposed to bring us all the great UNIX apps that are out there. And the one biggest app of all, KDE, is still unavailable for some obscure technical reasons that I don't understand and shouldn't have to.

Either QT or Apple or KDE or the Darwin open-source people are writing crappy code. Whoever's fault it is, knock it off! I want KDE on my Mac darn it - and NO I don't want to install any other OS to get it!!!

by Brian (not verified)

RIGH ON!

I love KDE and KDE3 is even more cooler!

I have a G4 iMac and I have XonX running.. I like that.. (blackbox) But I want KDE3!

Please make it all work.

Brian