KDE Projects

KDE Projects
Developer(s)	KDE
Written in	C++, Qt, QML and many more
Operating system	Unix-like with X11 or Wayland, Windows, Android, MacOS
Type	Free Software
License	GNU GPL, GNU LGPL, BSD License, MIT License
Website	invent.kde.org

KDE Projects are projects maintained by the KDE community, a group of people developing and advocating free software for everyday use, for example KDE Plasma and KDE Frameworks or applications such as Amarok, Krita or Digikam. There are also non-coding projects like designing the Breeze desktop theme and iconset, which is coordinated by KDE's Visual Design Group. Even non-Qt applications like GCompris, which started as a GTK-based application, or web-based projects like WikiToLearn are officially part of KDE.

Overview

As of today there are many KDE projects that are either stand-alone or grouped into larger sub-projects:

KDE Plasma Workspaces
KDE Frameworks (formerly KDE-Libs): A collection of libraries that provides frameworks and functionality for developers
KDE Applications Bundle: Containing core applications like Konqueror, Dolphin, KWrite, and Konsole.

KDE Core projects

Plasma – UI for multiple workspaces
KWin – Window manager
KHTML – HTML rendering engine, forked into WebKit in 2004
KJS - JavaScript engine
KIO – Extensible network-transparent file access
KParts – Lightweight in-process graphical component framework
XMLGUI – Allows defining UI elements, such as menus and toolbars via XML files
Phonon – Multimedia framework
Solid – Device integration framework
Sonnet – Spell checker
ThreadWeaver – Library to use multiprocessor systems more effectively

KDE Applications

Major applications developed by KDE include:

Ark – Archiving tool
Dragon Player – Media player.^[2]
Dolphin – File manager
Gwenview – Image viewer
Kate – Text editor
Konsole – Terminal emulator
Kontact – Personal information manager featuring an e-mail client, a news client, a feed aggregator, to-do lists, etc.
Konqueror – Web browser and File manager
Kopete – Instant messaging client
Krita – Raster graphics editor for Digital painting
Kdenlive – Video editing software

Thematically related groups of applications

KDE-Plasma-Addons: Additional Plasma widgets.
KDE-Network
KDE-Pim
KDE-Graphics
KDE-Multimedia
KDE-Accessibility: Accessibility applications.
KDE-Utilities
KDE-Edu
Calligra Suite: Integrated office suite
KDE-Games
KDE-Toys
KDE-Artwork: Additional icons, styles, etc.
KDE-SDK
KDE-Bindings
KDEWebdev: Web development tools.
KDE-Extragear: Extragear is a collection of applications and tools that are not part of the core KDE Applications.
KDE-Playground: This repository contains new and unstable software. It is a place for applications to mature.^[3]

Other projects

KDE Connect: A multi-platform application that allows data transfer between devices over local networks.
KDE neon: a distro featuring the latest KDE software packages on top of an Ubuntu base.
Wiki2Learn: a wiki-based web framework for people to participate and share knowledge.
Liquidshell: an alternative to Plasma^[4]

Development

Source code

The source code of every KDE project is stored in a source code repository using Git.^[5] Stable versions are released to the KDE FTP server^[6] in the form of source code with configure scripts, ready to be compiled by operating system vendors and to be integrated with the rest of their systems before distribution. Most vendors use only stable and tested versions of KDE programs or applications, providing it in the form of easily installable, pre-compiled packages.

Implementation

Most KDE projects are using the Qt framework, which runs on most Unix and Unix-like systems (including Mac OS X), and Microsoft Windows. As of 2011^[update] CMake serves as the build tool. This allows KDE to support a wider range of platforms, including Windows.^[7] GNU gettext is used for translation. Doxygen is used to generate api documentation.^[8]

Licensing

KDE software projects must be released under free licensing terms. In November 1998, the Qt framework was dual-licensed under the free and open-source Q Public License (QPL) and a commercial license for proprietary software developers. The same year, the KDE Free Qt foundation was created which guarantees that Qt would fall under a variant of the very liberal BSD license should Trolltech cease to exist or no free version of Qt be released during 12 months.^[9]

Debate continued about compatibility with the GNU General Public License (GPL), hence in September 2000 Trolltech made the Unix version of the Qt libraries available under the GPL in addition to the QPL which eliminated the concerns of the Free Software Foundation.^[10] Trolltech continued to require licenses for developing proprietary software with Qt. The core libraries of KDE are collectively licensed under the GNU LGPL but the only way for proprietary software to make use of them was to be developed under the terms of the Qt proprietary license.

Starting with Qt 4.5, Qt was also made available under the LGPL version 2.1,^[11] now allowing proprietary applications to legally use the open source Qt version.

References

^ "KDE Licensing Policy". Retrieved 2010-11-06.
^ Dragon Player website Archived 2009-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
^ "KDE Software Compilation". Retrieved 2010-11-20.
^ "liquidshell". KDE Applications. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
^ "KDE Projects". Archived from the original on 2017-01-24. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
^ "KDE stable release ftp server".
^ Troy Unrau (2007-02-22). "The Road to KDE 4: CMake, a New Build System for KDE". KDE. KDE.NEWS. Archived from the original on 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
^ "Software Engineering Framework". 29 October 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
^ "KDE Free Qt Foundation". KDE. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
^ "Trolltech offers a choice in licensing with the addition of GPL licensing for the upcoming release of Qt". 2000-09-05. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
^ Ryan Paul. "LGPL License Option Added to Qt". Nokia. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2010-11-13.

External links

The KDE website
KDE.News, news announcements
KDE community forums, the official forum board
Planet KDE, blog aggregate
KDE wikis
KDE Localization
KDE Store, free extensions and addons for KDE Software

[1] "KDE Licensing Policy". Retrieved 2010-11-06.

[2] Dragon Player website Archived 2009-05-27 at the Wayback Machine

[3] "KDE Software Compilation". Retrieved 2010-11-20.

[4] "liquidshell". KDE Applications. Retrieved 12 March 2023.

[5] "KDE Projects". Archived from the original on 2017-01-24. Retrieved 2010-12-31.

[6] "KDE stable release ftp server".

[7] Troy Unrau (2007-02-22). "The Road to KDE 4: CMake, a New Build System for KDE". KDE. KDE.NEWS. Archived from the original on 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-11-13.

[Software_Engineering_Framework-8] "Software Engineering Framework". 29 October 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2010-11-28.

[9] "KDE Free Qt Foundation". KDE. Retrieved 2010-11-13.

[10] "Trolltech offers a choice in licensing with the addition of GPL licensing for the upcoming release of Qt". 2000-09-05. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2010-11-28.

[11] Ryan Paul. "LGPL License Option Added to Qt". Nokia. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2010-11-13.

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