KDE 3.0-beta1 Release Announcement

Wednesday, 19 December 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Third Generation KDE Desktop Ready for Beta Testing and KDE 2 Apps Porting

The KDE Project Ships Beta of the Leading Desktop for Linux/UNIX, Plans LinuxWorld Expo Demonstrations

The KDE Project today announced the immediate release of KDE 3.0beta1, the third generation of KDE's free, powerful, easy-to-use, Internet-enabled desktop for Linux and other UNIXes. This second pre-release of KDE 3.0, which follows two months after the release of KDE 3.0alpha, ships with the core KDE libraries, the core desktop environment, and over 100 applications from the other base KDE packages (administration, multimedia, network, PIM, utilities, development, etc.). KDE 3.0 is scheduled for final release in the first half of 2002, with one or more intervening "RC" releases preceding the final release. The KDE Project will demonstrate the latest pre-release of KDE 3 at the LinuxWorld Expo in New York (Jan. 29 - Feb. 1, 2002).

"Beta1 is a stabilized snapshot of the current KDE 3 development branch and is meant for testers, developers and translators," explained Dirk Mueller, the KDE 3 release coordinator. "Users can assist in the development effort by testing this release and providing constructive feedback or helping to update or complete documentation. We're especially interested in feedback about the support for RTL languages and about the new KDE 3 features. For developers, now is a great time to complete porting your applications to KDE 3, or to pitch in and help implement the still-incomplete planned features. In addition, the KDE translation project needs new contributors who can translate KDE 3 into their native language. Translation is another great way for non-programmers to contribute to the continuing success and rapid improvement of KDE."

The primary goals of the 3.0beta1 release are to:

• enlist volunteers to help find bugs and provide constructive feedback through the KDE bugs database, and to help complete or update KDE documentation;
• provide a stable API so developers can port their KDE 2 applications to KDE 3;
• solicit developer feature requests before the KDE 3 API is finally frozen for binary compatibility, as well as developer assistance in completing the planned features; and
• provide a consistent snapshot for the translation teams (this release already provides some support for 57 languages).

Additional information about KDE 3, including instructions for setting up a KDE 3 system side-by-side with a KDE 2 system, a tentative release plan, a KDE 3 info page, a list of planned features, as well as a list of open tasks containing interesting projects for both users and developers who wish to contribute to KDE, is available at the KDE websites. Please use the KDE bugs database to report bugs or make feature requests.

KDE and all its components (including the IDE KDevelop) are available for free under Open Source licenses from the KDE ftp server and its mirrors.

Improvements

Besides the improvements to the underlying Qt library noted in the KDE 3.0alpha1 announcement, this release offers the following additional improvements compared to the KDE 2 series:

• a new clipboard system to satisfy the preferences of all users:
  • KDE continues to offer the standard X-type clipboard; selected text is copied to this clipboard, and clicking the middle mouse button pastes the contents of this clipboard; and
  • KDE also offers a complementary, independent Windows/Mac-type clipboard; text is inserted in the clipboard using an application's cut/copy (or generally Ctrl-x, Ctrl-c) function, and the application's paste (or generally Ctrl-v) function pastes the contents of this clipboard;
  (note that the clipboard in Qt 3.0.1 hangs sometimes; using qt-copy or upgrading to Qt 3.0.2 when it is released should cure this problem);
• many new KMail features, including:
  • maildir support;
  • support for distribution lists (groups) and aliases;
  • SMTP authentication;
  • SMTP over SSL/TLS;
  • pipelining for POP3 (increases download speed on slow networks);
  • support for both on-demand downloading and deletion without downloading;
  • IMAP improvements (header caching, faster header fetching, creating/removing folders, drafts/sent/trash folders on the server, and mail checking in all folders);
  • auto-configuration of IMAP/POP3/SMTP security features;
  • automatic encoding selection for outgoing mails;
  • DIGEST-MD5 authentication;
  • keyboard shortcuts for switching between mono-spaced/proportional fonts;
  • UTF-7 support; and
  • enhanced status reports for encrypted/signed messages;
• important feature additions for KDevelop, including:
  • full cross-compiling support, with the ability to specify a compiler, compiler flags, target architecture, etc.; and
  • support for Qt/Embedded projects (such as the Zaurus and iPAQ);
  (note that a release of KDevelop for KDE 2.2 with these new features is included in most of the download directories listed below);
• SSL certificate and CA management tools;
• a new URL speed bar in file dialogs;
• support for actions in the Konqueror sidebar; and
• numerous feature enhancements to Konsole, including:
  • cluster management (sending input to all active sessions);
  • clearing, searching and saving of session histories;
  • specification of a working directory per session type;
  • easier renaming of sessions with a keyboard shortcut;
  • pausing scrolling while selecting text; and
  • writing utmp entries (requires the utempter library).

Additional improvements to the KDE libraries and applications are planned for the successive RC releases leading to the first stable KDE 3.0. A partial list of these planned features is available at KDE's developer website.

Porting to KDE 3

Since KDE 3 is mostly source compatible with KDE 2, porting applications from KDE 2 to KDE 3 can usually be done with relative ease and comfort. The process is substantially easier than the one for porting KDE 1 applications to KDE 2; even very complicated applications have been ported in a matter of hours.

Instructions for porting KDE 2 applications to KDE 3 are available separately for the KDE libraries and the Qt libraries. Most of the changes required for the port applications pertain to changes in the Qt API. Although the KDE 3 API is not yet frozen, few changes are anticipated for the final release of KDE 3.0.

Installing KDE 3.0beta1 Binary Packages

Binary Packages. The 3.0beta1 release is outdated, its binary packages are no longer available. Please consider using a newer release instead.

Please note that the KDE team makes these packages available from the KDE web site as a convenience to KDE users. The KDE project is not responsible for these packages as they are provided by third parties -- typically, but not always, the distributor of the relevant distribution. If you cannot find a binary package for your distribution, please read the KDE Binary Package Policy.

Library Requirements. The library requirements for a particular binary package vary with the system on which the package was compiled. Please bear in mind that some binary packages may require a newer version of Qt and other libraries than was included with the applicable distribution (e.g., LinuxDistro 8.0 may have shipped with Qt-2.2.3 but the packages below require Qt-3.x). For general library requirements for KDE, please see the text at Source Code - Library Requirements below.

Downloading and Compiling KDE 3.0beta1

Library Requirements. KDE 3.0beta1 requires the following libraries:

• qt-3.0.1, which is available in source code from Trolltech as qt-x11-free-3.0.1.tar.gz, though due to a problem with the clipboard qt-copy (or qt-3.0.2, when released) is recommended;
• for reading help pages and KDE documentation, libxml2 >= 2.3.13 and libxslt >= 1.0.7;
• for JavaScript/ECMAScript regular expression support, PCRE >= 3.5;
• for SSL support, OpenSSL >= 0.9.6x (versions 0.9.5x are no longer supported);
• for Java support, a JVM >= 1.3;
• for Netscape Communicator plugin support, KDE requires a recent version of Lesstif or Motif;
• for searching local documentation, ht://dig; and
• for other special features, such as drag'n'drop audio CD ripping, certain other packages.

Compiler Requirements. Please note that some components of KDE 3.0beta1 will not compile with older versions of gcc/egcs, such as egcs-1.1.2 or gcc-2.7.2. At a minimum gcc-2.95-* is required. In addition, some components of KDE 3.0beta1 (such as the multimedia backbone of KDE, aRts) will not compile with gcc 3.0.x (this problem is being addressed but no time frame is available).

Source Code/SRPMs. The complete source code for KDE 3.0beta1 is no longer available. Consider using a newer release instead.

Further Information. For further instructions on compiling and installing KDE 3.0beta1, please consult the installation instructions and, if you should encounter problems, the compilation FAQ.

About KDE

KDE is an independent, collaborative project by hundreds of developers worldwide working over the Internet to create a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop environment employing a component-based, network-transparent architecture. KDE provides a stable, mature desktop, an office suite (KOffice), a large set of networking and administration tools, and an efficient and intuitive development environment, including an excellent IDE (KDevelop). KDE is working proof of the power of the Open Source "Bazaar-style" software development model to create first-rate technologies on par with and superior to even the most complex commercial software.

Please visit the KDE family of web sites for the KDE FAQ, screenshots (KDE 2, KDE 3), KOffice information and developer information. Much more information about KDE is available from KDE's family of web sites.

Corporate KDE Sponsors

Besides the valuable and excellent efforts by the KDE developers themselves, significant support for KDE development has been provided by MandrakeSoft and SuSE. In addition, the members of the KDE League provide significant support for promoting KDE and KOffice. Thanks!

All other trademarks and copyrights referred to in this announcement are the property of their respective owners.