KDE 4 is almost ready to go

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Nov. 21, 2007

KDE e.V, the nonprofit organization behind the popular KDE desktop environment, has announced the immediate availability of the first release candidate for its next major release: KDE 4.0.

With this release candidate, the majority of KDE 4's components are almost ready for prime time. At the same time, with the final bits of Plasma, the brand-new desktop shell and panel in KDE 4, falling into place, Release Candidate 1 is the first preview of KDE 4.0 that is suitable for general use.

KDE 4 is the next generation of the popular KDE Desktop Environment. The aim of the KDE project for the 4.0 release is to put the foundations in place for future innovations on the Free Desktop. The many newly introduced technologies incorporated in the KDE libraries will make it easier for developers to add rich functionality to their applications, combining and connecting different components in any way they want.

The KDE team has also released the final version of the KDE Development Platform, which provides the needed libraries and applications on which the KDE Desktop is based. The KDE Development Platform, comprising the basis for developing KDE applications, is frozen and is now of release quality. The source code for the KDE Development Platform can be found in the "stable/" subdir on KDE's FTP server and mirrors.

Building on this, the majority of applications included in KDE 4.0 are now usable for day-to-day use. The KDE Release Team has recently underlined this by calling on the community to participate in reporting bugs during the time remaining before the release of KDE 4.0 in December.

With the first release candidate, the KDE developers hope to collect comments and bug reports from the wider KDE community. With their help, the programmers hope to solve the most pressing problems with the current KDE 4 code base to ensure the final 4.0 release is usable. Anyone who is willing to spend time on testing to find problems can report them to the KDE developers.

Instructions on how to report bugs is available on the KDE Bugsquad site. Users who want to get to know KDE 4 better but don't want to shift over to the new desktop can give it a try with the regularly updated openSUSE KDE 4 Live CD or the Debian KDE4 Beta4 Live CD.

Several distributions are also getting ready to release KDE 4.0-rc1 packages. The complete and current list can be found on the KDE 4.0-rc1 Info Page. There, users can also find links to the source code and information about compiling, security and other issues.

While the KDE organization is running behind its initial schedule, the final version should be out before the end of the year.

—Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2008 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.