Running KDE 4.2 On Fedora 10 (Short, Short version)

Bill McGonigle — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:38:00 -0500

KDE 4.2 looks like it's finally the right version to get me to use Linux as my daily desktop. 4.5 has more goodness baked in, 4.1 was insufficient, but 4.2 looks 'just right'. I used to be a GNOME user, but with GNOME's track towards Microsoft API's (mono) for its centerpiece applications I've gone over to KDE, and with its recent switch to LGPL I couldn't be more optimistic about its future.

For those who like to run official '-stable' versions of everything in Fedora, stop here. It'll be in Fedora 11 in a few months. Go read the warnings at the kde-redhat and the tracking bug if you want to know all the theoretical risks involved.

But for those eager to get on with things, I'll distil down what I think is the minimal command set to install the '-testing' release of KDE 4.2:

cd /etc/yum.repos.d



sudo wget http://blog.bfccomputing.com/files/kde.repo

sudo rpm -Uhv http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/releases/10/Everything/i386/os/rpmfusion-free-release-10-1.noarch.rpm

sudo yum -y groupupdate kde-desktop

sudo yum -y update

(answering Y to importing GPG keys)

log out, log back in. You should be good to go.

I started with a working KDE 4.1 install, which wasn't easy either. If you haven't gotten that far first, be sure to do so. I have this in my notes from trial and error getting all the correct packages installed:

yum -y install kdebase kdegames kdegraphics kdemultimedia kdenetwork kdepim kdeplasma-addons kdeutils kipi-plugins PyKDE4 digikam-libs ebook-tools-libs kdebase-libs kdegames-libs kdegraphics-libs kdemultimedia-libs kdenetwork-libs kdepim-libs libgadu system-config-printer kdeaccessibility kdeartwork kdebase-workspace system-switch-displaymanager

but it may not be comprehensive (leave notes, please). Run 'system-switch-displaymanager KDM' to get the correct display manager selected. If your logins never succeed there are more packages to install. Unfortunately anaconda doesn't give a working KDE install, even if you select it at install-time.

The BFC Computing Weblog: Running KDE 4.2 On Fedora 10 (Short, Short version)

Running KDE 4.2 On Fedora 10 (Short, Short version)