KDE Project Releases KDE 3.3

The KDE Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of KDE 3.3, the fourth major release of the award-winning KDE3 desktop platform. Over the past six months, hundreds of applications and desktop components have been enhanced by a community of developers, with a particular focus on integration of components.

Stephan Kulow, KDE Release Coordinator, said: "The desktop reached a quality
hard to top in previous releases. Nevertheless, KDE 3.3 is a great
improvement and will further strengthen KDE's position as the leading Free
desktop environment."

Building upon previous releases, noticeable improvements in usability,
stability and integration have been achieved, enhancing the desktop
experience. A range of new applications and features have also been
implemented, including KolourPaint (screenshots), an easy-to-use paint program. Over 7,000
bugs have been fixed, and 2,000 wishes fulfilled, with over 60,000 lines of
code and documentation being written in the past six months. KDE is now
available
in 89 different languages, with recent additions including Farsi
(Iran) and Indic character support.

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Comments

by Johnny (not verified)

werd...

by gerry (not verified)

SUSE quietly released their RPMs a couple of days ago. Everything seems better/nicer/more polished/elegant/stop reading when you get bored reading eulogy.

Slightly off topic - but if anyone is looking for evidence in "the when are Novell going to dump KDE" debate, they clearly won't find it on the SUSE website. SUSE KDE RPM publishing/updating feels more active since Novell.

by DiCkE (not verified)

Just updated my 9.1 through YaST and it's a great job from KDE/SuSE people!!

by Tom Flaherty (not verified)

Can't seem to upgrade to KDE 3.3 via YAST. Obviously I'm mising something here - thanks for any help.

tf

by Jeremy Erickson (not verified)

To your YaST sources you need to add ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/supplementary/KDE/update_for_9.1/yast-s... . Alternatively, you can use apt4rpm to update.

by ac (not verified)

How does that work exactly? Will SuSE eventually update their main YOU servers, or do I need to manually change the sources if I want to use this? If so, how do I do this? Sorry, I just switched to SuSE and don't know how they work.

by Bryan Feeney (not verified)

By default SuSE only provides security and bug-fix updates via YOU. They are constantly backporting fixes and what not, so you'll have a completely stable and secure KDE 3.2.

They don't provide updates for new features or application versions though, this is to prevent maintenance headaches in large organisations when everyone updates to new versions with new issues and new bugs.

Feature updates are available on the SuSE site however, and if you follow the parent's instructions you can access these new updates via YaST2.

by anonymous (not verified)

In YaST, you can specify multiple software sources.
Just add the source mentioned above in addition to your primary installation source.
YaSt will display the available upgrades in the software installation module.
Select the ones you want to upgrade by clicking with your RMB on the packagename and select 'upgrade'. You can also upgrade a complete group by selecting [selections] in the combobox on the right, and RMB click on the selection [kde packages]. Choose the option called something like [upgrade packages if available].

by jmk (not verified)

Did you update to provided qt-3.3.3 as well? I'm having tons of problems with it.

by daveor (not verified)

HI all,
I upgraded my SuSE 9.1 box to KDE 3.3 via yast as described above. I have one problem now...openoffice won't start. I get the following:

daveor@jimbo:~> OOo-writer
Starting /opt/OpenOffice.org/program/swriter...
soffice.bin: kdecore/kcmdlineargs.cpp:159: static void KCmdLineArgs::init(int, char**, const KAboutData*, bool): Assertion `argsList == 0' failed.
Aborted
daveor@jimbo:~>

anyone seen this or know what it's about?

thanks for the help!
daveor

by elmusafir (not verified)

I have the same problem. Since upgrading (sic) to KDE 3.3 I haven't been able to start Open Office within KDE. It pops the same accursed message you just posted. OO runs in any other desktop environment perfectly, though.

I am trying the OpenOffice installer today, instead of relying on the Apt updates. I'll post the results here in a while (but I doubt there won't be any problem)

Any hints meanwhile?

elmusafir

by elmusafir (not verified)

As expected.

Deleted OpenOffice_org (rpm -e OpenOffice_org-en OpenOffice_org-lang OpenOffice_org-en-help OpenOffice_org) and then went to the openoffice site and downloaded the installer tarball ( http://download.openoffice.org/1.1.2/index.html )
untarred/unzipped it (tar zxvf OOo_1.1.2_LinuxIntel_install.tar.gz) and then installed it (~/OOo_1.1.2_LinuxIntel_install/./setup -net)

Never to trust those darned rpms again.

(sorry about the instructions but if someone needs them, they are here!)

;-)

elmusafir

by Hooded One (not verified)

Actually, the packages a few days ago were of RC2. They were labeled as 3.3 in case that release were deemed good enough to be called final. They have freshly updated 3.3 final packages just posted today. Multimedia doesn't seem to have updated packages yet, but that might just be because nothing changed from RC2. (Just speculation. Does anybody know for sure?) Bindings and sdk are also still at 3.2.x

Still, your point about quick updates still stands. Plus, unlike the upgrade to 3.2 on SuSE 9, there is no conflict between kdebase and kdebase-SuSE.

by Anonymous (not verified)

Does anyone else have problems with Plastik not being available after the update on SUSE 9.0? I tried both the kdeartwork3-3.3.0-1.i586.rpm I got via apt-rpm and the .0-3 build from the SUSE ftp server. Both files applied without conflicts, but plastik is not available in KControl anymore. The files are in /opt/kde3/lib...

/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/kwin_plastik_config.la
/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/kwin_plastik_config.so
/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/kwin3_plastik.la
/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/kwin3_plastik.so
/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/kstyle_plastik_config.la
/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/kstyle_plastik_config.so
/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/plugins/styles/plastik.la
/opt/kde3/lib/kde3/plugins/styles/plastik.so
/opt/kde3/share/apps/kwin/plastik.desktop
/opt/kde3/share/apps/kstyle/themes/plastik.themerc

Plastik worked fine in beta 2 (SUSE RPMs again).

Any ideas?

by Anonymous (not verified)

Updated to the latest packages - works fine now.

by Rob (not verified)

Just a heads up. The SuSE 8.2 RPM that contains kopete (kdenetwork3-InstantMessenger) does noit seem to include the Jabber plugin. The 9.0/9.1 RPMs do.

I'm off to SuSE's site to see if I can figure out how to let them know about this.

by tracer (not verified)

Why should they dump KDE?
QT is superior to GTK+
KDE ist by far superior to GNOME (hat to work with it for 2 days, it's crap)

I think, is more resonable for Novell to port Evolution to KDE.
That would sell, eDirectory and Win/Lin Evolution Client...

by Marcus (not verified)

I know my employers would immediately stop buying SuSE if they "dumped KDE", and I feel that the idea of there being a serious "when are Novell going to dump KDE" debate is nothing more than flamebait.

Most companies I know of that have large GUI-based workflows are not going to "dump" any of the principal contenders for end-user productivity, and with the best will in the world, there are Desktop Environments out there that suffer because they don't seem to get used in any such context.

I mean, can you see designers doing any serious GUI-based work in a GUI which doesn't even let them select multiple files in the stock file selection dialog?

That's if you're charitable and ignore design decisions like "let's remove Cancel buttons and utterly stop end-users discarding file-screwing changes" - or "let's remove OK buttons so that end-users aren't sure whether anything got saved" - both of which seem determined to force/trick end users into committing bad changes on their machines.

...and that's if you forget about the 'loads of design and no useful functionality' superfluous technologies that keep getting incorporated into gnome.

People have to download and install >20mb of superfluous tech to get indexed search in some desktop environments - indexed search which, hilariously, relies on a separately obtained kernel modification anyway. All sounds a bit Redmond to a lot of companies, that sort of thing.

I like Gnome, and KDE, but I'd be very surprised if anybody sane is having a "when are Novell going to dump KDE" debate.

At least this side of Slashdot, anyway :)

by Mikhail Capone (not verified)

Yay! Time to find Slackware binaries..

by Mikhail Capone (not verified)

Just finished installing 3.3.0 and figured I'd try Kopete to see if it's mature enough to replace gaim and maybe xChat.

Well, I can't find an option to add a jabber account anywhere in the config menus. Not where the other accounts are, not in the plugins..

The weird thing is that on Kopete's website they have screenshots that showa jabber account and they talk about jabber and link to the website.

So what happened? Anybody else having problems with that?

by Anonymous (not verified)

You have to install libidn before compiling Kopete for Jabber support, see list of compilation requirements.

by Mikhail Capone (not verified)

Ah, well, I just downloaded the slackware binaries that were linked from kde.org .. Maybe I'll wait for the official slackware binaries to come out and see if they are compiled differently.

I don't really feel like compiling KDE on my K6-2 450mhz

by JC (not verified)

Well you won´t have other Slackware packages. These are non official but I´m providing them for the last past 3 years. So they are kind of official :)

Anyways about Kopete, I´m not using it for a long time because it´s full of bugs. Totally unusable. At least for the MSN messenger plugin. Don´t know for others.

by Rob Kaper (not verified)

There are official packages, Pat already added them to testing/packages/kde-3.3/ for slackware-current.

by Rob Kaper (not verified)

Oh, but those currently do not have libidn support either, because libidn is apparently still alpha and not for production use. Hopefully not many parts of KDE require it.

by Kai F. Lahmann (not verified)

WOOOOOOOOOOOW! What did you do to get KDE that much faster? kontact is there in 1 or 2 seconds - around 15 before....

by Mikhail Capone (not verified)

Yes, I noticed that too. And the new splash screen is nice.

It does seem that the first time I move from one area of kontact to the other it does some more loading, so that could be how they speeded up the initial loading. Still nice, though.

by anonymous (not verified)
by MandrakeUser (not verified)

The Python Bingind in CVS are the killer here IMHO. This, together with kdevelop or qtdesigner, should make KDE _THE_ best RAD tool in the free software world

Kudos !

by Richard Dale (not verified)

But don't forget the QtRuby/Korundum bindings either! They too are about the most powerful RAD tool that's ever existed, and have added excellent DCOP support for the KDE 3.3 release.

And BTW, kjsembed isn't half bad as a RAD or scripting tool..

by Chakie (not verified)

I have to agree with this. Python, PyQt and Designer is what I use for all my private development. It's so easy and so fast to get advanced things done. And the stability of the bindings is amazing, I can't remember a single crash which wasn't due to an error I did. :)

by Boudewijn Rempt (not verified)

That's absolutely true... I remember I was completely astonished at finally having found a problem that didn't fit PyQt -- a fast, optimized drawing application with natural media support. For most things, from data mangling to mail clients, PyQt is the smart choice.

by NS (not verified)

Add Eric3 to it. It is perfect.
http://www.die-offenbachs.de/detlev/eric3.html

Then get nkids crystal icons for eric3. Just for Looks.
http://www.die-offenbachs.de/detlev/eric3-contrib.html

by MandrakeUser (not verified)

Does anyone know whether KDE 3.3 will make it to Mandrake 10.1 ? I would think so, since Cooker is still undergoing major changes. Mandrake 10.1 beta 2 is still not released, etc. But who knows !

Otherwise, anyone know of unofficial Mandrake 10.0 packages ?

Thanks so much in advance ...

by Pinaraf (not verified)

It seems that you won't get KDE 3.3 with mandrake 10.1 because they won't have enough time to test it.
I remember Mandrake 10.0 with its KDE 3.2 CVS !

by David Walser (not verified)

No, Mandrakelinux 10.1 will still have KDE 3.2.x (stable CVS). The idea of updating the 10.1 public stable tree (now called "Community" in 10.0) to KDE 3.3 later is being tossed around.

by MandrakeUser (not verified)

Argg. Bad choice IMHO. This is the time for Mandrake to get KDE 3.3 in Community. That's exactly what community is for: community testing. KDE 3.3 will take several package rebuilding and bug-fix backporting from CVS cycles before it gets stable. No way it will stabilize for the official release if they dont release now and get broad testing. Anyways, I don't wanna get off-topic too much. Thanks guys for the feedback!

by testerus (not verified)

No, a rock solid 3.2 is far better than 3.3. Many people, including me, need a distribution that is suitable for people who are not computer experts. A distribution they can use without having to worry about bugs.

The problem with Mandrake is that they do not offer the latest KDE for the experienced users, not even at the commercial mandrakeclub.

by Joe Schmoe (not verified)

You should read more then. Community is for testing and NON-experts.

by MandrakeUser (not verified)

"Community is for testing and NON-experts."

That was exactly my point. Mandrake community is not even close to release, and official will follow a month later. This gives ... what ? 2 months ? about 2 months from now. To me, that's plenty of time to stabilize KDE 3.3 (with CVS fixes, plus cooker fixes, plus community reported bugs being fixed). Gee, KDE may release a quick 3.3.1 with the first bugfix collection even before official. Oh well ...

And back to the drake, IMHO they are missing one component: a yearly, corporate edition, low paced but ultra stable. Big corporations will rather miss a few features than hit a bug. KDE 3.2.* would be ideal for this corporate edition right now.

And one more point. Mandrake won a lot of mind sharing by staying in the bleeding edge. Lots of people, mostly enthusiasts and devs, like that. Give them that, keep them in, and get their contributions!

Cheers!

by MandrakeUser (not verified)

Addendum: there is a thread on cooker about this:
http://archives.mandrakelinux.com/cooker/2004-08/msg02957.php

Bottomline: the problem seems to be to port all the mandrake customizzations to KDE 3.3

Question: shouldn't they have switched to the 3.3 CVS branch a couple weeks ago when this branch went into deep freeze for the RC's ?

by testerus (not verified)

> You should read more then. Community is for testing and NON-experts

It seems you are wrong here. Cooker is for testing. Community is meant to be a stable version of Mandrake Linux. Official is Community with additional bugfixes . (See http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/pr-releaseprocess.php3)

Mandrake 10 contained KDE 3.2.0 with some additional fixes, but there were still enough bugs in KDE 3.2 to release KDE 3.2.1, 3.2.2 and 3.2.3.

by Jeroen (not verified)

Way to early. There are still some killer-bugs there, like this one: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=87401

I also hope they fixed Kdcop, because it hangs when I open it in RC2.

I will see,

Jeroen

by anonymous (not verified)

Nobody forces you to upgrade to kde 3.3
If kde 3.3 contains bugs that are grave to you, then don't upgrade.

by anon (not verified)

Final releases aren't expected to work any more? If major bugs still exist, it is wrong to call it "final".
JMO

by chris (not verified)

they are final thats all, they dont have to work in *every aspect*

by affenschlaffe (not verified)

1. The release works just fine.
2. This is definately not a showstopper / major bug.
3. The maintainer cannot reproduce this bug and is waiting for more information.

by Joe (not verified)

How is that even REMOTELY a showstopper?

Give me a break.