We all love GNU/Linux as it continues to evolve from an old, black, complicated operating systems into a gracefull, slick, modern operating systems, thanks to many Open Source developers and projects. Without their contribution, we will never had our chance to see GNU/Linux has grown into what we see now. One of the Open Source project that was crutial in my opinion was KDE project which is now considered as one of the biggest project in Open Source community.
They have great contribution in GNU/Linux, mostly by developing a desktop manager which is easy to use, user friendly, flexible, and also customizeable. Not only that, they also produces some small (sometimes it's big) applications which in time will be integrated in KDE's project (such as Super Karamba which is now fully integrated since KDE 3.5.0). Just like the other Open Source project, they often release a new version for public consumption. Just now, they had released KDE 3.5.1, the first release after their latest KDE version, KDE 3.5.0. It brings you a new look in your desktop as well as bug fixes in many KDE's components. You should find your desktop getting better all the time. The only problem is how do we upgrade our KDE packages in our systems?
In this article, i want to show you how easy to upgrade KDE packages in Slackware Linux. Why do i choose Slackware instead of other distributions? Well.. since i only have Slackware on my laptop, so i just use it as a basic reference for this article. The basic principal of upgrading a package is mostly similar for each distro. The only difference was the syntax. In this article, i will upgrade my KDE from 3.4.2 into 3.5.1.
First of all, get the latest KDE packages from Slackware's mirror. Choose the location which is near your country to make the download process even faster. Get all the packages in kde directory (if i'm not mistaken, there should be 20 items). I suggest that you should NOT use the packages in KDE's website that was build for Slackware distribution. I had tried that package when i was trying to upgrade to 3.4.2, but there was some bugs that occurred after the upgrade process, but it didn't occurred when i used the official packages from Slackware.
Note : The packages in KDE's website is not an official packages from Patrick Volkerding. I'd rather wait until the next official packages is released (even though it could take weeks or even months, just like KDE 3.5 packages which was released after KDE released their first update release). So, if you still want to use those kind of packages, please use it at your risk.If you are ready with the packages needed, let's start upgrading. First of all, you should make a backup of your KDE directory, just in bad thing happened (i hope it never happened in your systems as it never happened in my system). What you should do is make a backup of your .kde directory. It's located in your home directory. Try to copy this directory and give another name by using :
cp ~/.kde ~/.kde.backup
It will make a backup of your KDE configuration with a name of .kde.backup. Next is to log out of your system and go to text-mode or another window manager if you have some (GNOME or XFCE). I prefer to go to text mode as it will make the X Server stopped while the process is under way. You can also restart your system and type a parameter "3" in your LILO entry. For example, if you have a LILO entry which has a label "Linux 2.6.13", then choose this, but before you press ENTER, type "3" (without quote) and press ENTER. You will enter text-mode.
Next, login with your account (it's best to logged in using your daily accounts and then switch to root by using su -). Go to where you place all the KDE packages (it's better for you to save it in one directory, for example KDE-3.5.1). Next, run :
upgradepkg *
It will upgrade all the KDE packages which is installed in your system while leaving the uninstalled package. You can also install a new package which hasn't been installed by using :
installpkg <package_name>
After a while (it could take some minutes, depends on your hardware specification), the process will finish and you can try to test your new look by restarting your system or just type :
startx
If the upgrade process is successfull, you will be prompted with a new splash screen and also new visual effect after the desktop are loaded. Congratulations, you have successfully upgraded your KDE packages.
Next thing is to customize your new KDE. KDE is very customizeable and there are hundreds (or thousands) of KDE items which can be found at KDE-Look. One new thing in KDE 3.5.x is Super Karamba which is now fully integrated. But unfortunately, KDE was shipped without any themes at all, so you should download them manually. You can also modify other items, such as icons, splash screen, screensavers, sounds, themes, window decorations, or any other item. Happy customizing KDE.
One note that i found from LinuxQuestions forum is that you will need to upgrade other packages in -current changelog either, as KDE is build using new packages, mostly for 3.5.2 packages. I followed the -current changelog regularly, so i didn't get this problem. Try to upgrade your gcc, glibc, libcairo, Xorg, and any other essential library using the -current packages if you have problems with KDE 3.5.2. You can also see the requirements in KDE's Requirement List
Last Update : 5 June 2006 :: 15:11:58
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