These are the installation instructions for the Beta Two (aka "Neheim") release of the KDE Desktop Environment. Please read them carefully and try to help yourself out if anything goes wrong. If you need further assistance, consider joining the kde mailing lists (see our web site at http://www.kde.orgi/contact.html).
The KDE team provides five different kinds of packages: source and binary RPMs, source and binary .tgz files and binary Debian files. The installation process depends on which package format you choose. After installation, there are post-installation procedures that apply for all package formats. Note that if you an inexperienced Unix user and have a RPM-based system (like Red Hat Linux or SuSE Linux 5.0 or higher), you are probably best off choosing the binary RPM package. If you need special configuration options (e.g. because you have shadow passwords and want to use the screensavers), your best bet is to use the source ..tgz packages and compile the KDE Desktop Environment yourself.
You need the Qt library (and header files if you want to compile KDE yourself), version 1.31 or higher, available at no cost from http://www.troll.no/dl. You also need the libgr which should be included in most distributions. Please make also shure that your local loopback device is setup correctly.
The base distribution currently consists of eight packages. Some are required, some are optional. Each package is available in each of the aforementioned package formats.
kdesupport (if needed) should be installed before everything else. The next (or first) package should be kdelibs. The other packages can be installed in an arbitrary order.
The Debian packages install into /opt/kde. This is compliant with the upcoming FHS (file hierarchy standard).
To install the Debian package:
and accordingly for the other packages
The RPM packages install per default into /opt/kde. You can override this with the --prefix switch.
To install the binary RPM:
To create a binary RPM from the source rpm and install it do the following:
The source .tgz package installs into /usr/local/kde per default. You can override this setting by using the --prefix option of the configure script.
The binary .tgz package installs into /opt/kde.
First of all, make sure that you have added KDE's binary installation directory (e.g. /opt/kde/bin) to your PATH and KDE's library installation directory to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH (only necessary on systems that do not support rpath; on Linux ELF, it should work without) this environment variable may be called differently on some systems, e.g. it is called SHLIB_PATH on Irix). Then set the environment variable KDEDIR to the base of your KDE tree, e.g. /opt/kde.
Even though you can use most of the KDE applications simply by calling them, you can only benefit fully from KDE's advanced features if you use the KDE window manager kwm and its helper programs.
In order to make it easy for you, we have provided a simple script called startkde which gets installed in $KDEDIR/bin and is therefore in your path. Edit the file .xinitrc in your home directory (make a backup copy first!), remove everything that looks like calling a window manager, and insert startkde instead. Restart X. This should present you with your shining new KDE desktop. You can now start to explore the wonderful world of KDE. In case you want to read some documentation first, there is a quickstart guide at http://www.kde.org/documentation/desktop.html. Also, every application has an online help that is available via the help menu.
[This text taken from the GPL.]
BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN
OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS
TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Please report bug reports at our kde-bugs@kde.org where they will be distributed to the developer in charge.
Have fun with KDE
Kalle Dalheimer <kalle@kde.org> for the whole KDE team