Installation instructions
These are the generic installation instructions for the K Desktop Environment. Please complement your reading with the READMEs and INSTALLs that come along with the package. Please read them carefully and try to help yourself out if anything goes wrong. If you need further assistance, consider joining the mailing lists (see our web site instructions for joining the mailing lists) or newsgroups.
To the would-be converts
So you have heard the rumors. Or you have seen the screenshots. And you are dying to get hold of . But you know next to nothing about this whole alternative OS business. Don't worry! You only need to do some (well, maybe not some) reading, that's all!
does not run on 95/98/NT or OS/2 (yet). To run , you need to have a system. Please refer to for more details.
Decide on a platform and set it up for your system. This FAQ can not help you with this, since runs on many platforms.
Finally, you are ready to commence the installation. Please start reading from the next section. To get , please refer to . Last but not least, if you encounter any problems while installing , please do not hesitate to make use of the mailing lists and newsgroups. But do bear this in mind: no question is too silly to ask, but some are too silly to answer, especially when they are already answered in this FAQ.
Good luck and have fun!
Available package formats
You can find several kinds of binary and source packages for different distributions and operating systems on the . The binary packages are not made by the Team, but by the distributors themselves, or some dedicated individuals. Please refer to Package Policy Explained for information about the Package Policy. The only official release is the source tar.bz2 packages. Please refer to the READMEs and INSTALLs in the several binaries directories. For a list of the available packages for a release, refer to the relevant info page. For the latest release this is the 3.0 Info Page.
Prerequisites
For 3.0, you need the library version 3.0.2 or higher. Please make sure you download the correct . You will also need the header files, if you want to compile yourself. They are all available, at no cost, from http://www.trolltech.com/download. In addition, there are optional libraries that might improve if installed on your system. An example is OpenSSL which will enable to browse web pages securely and is needed in a version >=0.9.6. These should be provided by your distributor; if not, ask for an update.
Description of the base packages
The base distribution currently consists of eleven packages. Some are required, while others are optional. Each package is available in each of the aforementioned package formats.
kdelibs 	 Required
This package contains shared libraries that are needed by all applications.
kdebase 	 Required
This package contains the base applications that form the core of the K Desktop Environment like the window manager, the terminal emulator, the control center, the file manager, and the panel.
	 The sound server. A powerful, network transparent sound server.
kdeaddons 	 Optional
Various plugins for , , , and
kdeartwork 	 Optional
Additional wallpapers, themes, styles, sounds ...
kdebindings 	 Optional
Various bindings for other languages, including , Perl, Python, ...
kdegames 	 Optional
Various games like , , , and .
kdegraphics 	 Optional
Various graphics-related programs like previewer, previewer, and a drawing program.
kdeutils 	 Optional
Various desktop tools like a calculator, an editor and other nifty stuff.
kdemultimedia 	 Optional
Multimedia applications like a player and a mixer.
kdenetwork 	 Optional
Network applications. Currently contains the mail program , the news reader , and several other network-related programs.
kdeadmin 	 Optional
System administration programs.
kdeedu 	 Educational and entertaining applications for 's younger users.
kdetoys 	 Optional
Toys!
kdevelop 	 Optional
A complete Integrated Development Environment for and Qt
arts and then kdelibs should be installed before everything else, and kdeaddons last. The other packages can be installed in any arbitrary order.
Most package management tools will let you put all these packages in one directory and install them all at once, figuring out the dependencies as they go.
Installation instructions for the different package formats
Please do not forget to read the README and INSTALL files if they are available.
Installation of the Debian packages 	 The Debian packages install in accordance with the upcoming FHS (File Hierarchy Standard).
become superuser
run dpkg -i packagename.deb for every package you want to install.
Installation of the RPM packages 	

To install binary RPMs
become superuser
execute rpm -ivh packagename.rpm
Installation of the source .tar.bz2 files 	 Since there are always changes and updates to the way is compiled, please refer to Download and Install from Source for the most up to date installation instructions for the source packages.
The general approach should work in most cases though.
The source .tar.bz2 package installs into /usr/local/kde by default. You can override this setting by using the --prefix option of the configure script.
unpack the packages with tar jxvf packagename.tar.bz2
change directory to the package directory: cd packagename
configure the package: ./configure
Some packages (notably kdebase) have special configuration options that might be applicable to your installation. Type ./configure --help to see the available options.
build the package: make
install the package: su -c "make install" (if you aren't already root). If you already are, just type make install.
Post-installation procedures
First of all, please make sure that you have added 's binary installation directory (e.g. /opt/kde/bin) to your PATH and 's library installation directory to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH (only necessary on systems that do not support rpath; on , it should work without). This environment variable may be called differently on some systems, e.g. it is called SHLIB_PATH on . Then set the environment variable KDEDIR to the base of your tree, e.g. /opt/kde.
Please bear in mind that it is unwise to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH blindly. In the vast majority of cases it is unnecessary and can do more harm than good. There is a web page written by Dave Barr explaining the evils of LD_LIBRARY_PATH and it can be found at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~barr/ldpath.html.
Even though you can use most of the applications simply by calling them, you can only benefit fully from 's advanced features if you use the window manager 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 the . If you use /xdm, you will have to edit the file .xsession instead of .xinitrc. And if there is no .xinitrc or .xsession in your home directory, simply create a new one with just one line containing startkde.
Some systems (notably ) use .Xclients instead.
This should present you with a new shining desktop. You can now start to explore the wonderful world of . In case you want to read some documentation first, there is a highly recommended Quick Start guide available. Furthermore, every application has an online help that is available via the help menu.
Should I remove old version xyz before installing a new one?
In principle, this is not necessary. RPM and Debian packages should take care of all dependencies.
If you compile the source code yourself, you should take care not to compile different versions of the packages. So if you install a new version, please first make and install kdesupport, then kdelibs, then kdebase.
One thing you should avoid: installing two or more versions of in parallel. This might happen if you specify a different target directory for one version than for the other. The result may be unpredictable. The same is true if you have different versions of installed at the same time. This happens easily if you already have an old version installed with a distribution.
How do I start ?
The most comfortable method to start is to use the startkde script. Simply put the line startkde at the end of your .xsession file (or your .xinitrc or .Xclients file if you are not using or xdm). Please also remove the lines that start your previous window manager. If there is no .xsession, .xinitrc, or .Xclients in your home directory, simply create a new one that contains just one line: startkde.
Is it possible to install in a user directory?
Yes, you can install in any directory you want. What you have to do depends on the kind of packages you want to install:

Source packages
Configure and install the package using configure --prefix=/users/myhome/kde; make; make install to install into /users/myhome/kde.
Add the following to your init files. Please note that if it is not necessary for you to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH, it is better to leave it out.
For csh or tcsh:

setenv KDEDIR /users/myhome/kde

if ( $?LD_LIBRARY_PATH ) then
   setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH $KDEDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
else
   setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH $KDEDIR/lib
endif

if ( ! $?LIBRARY_PATH ) then
   setenv LIBRARY_PATH $LD_LIBRARY_PATH
endif

For bash:

KDEDIR=/users/myhome/kde
PATH=$KDEDIR/bin:$PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$KDEDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export KDEDIR PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH LIBRARY_PATH

RPM packages
rpm allows you to use the --prefix option to select the directory you want to install to. For example, executing rpm -i --prefix=/users/myhome/kde package.rpm will install the package to /users/myhome/kde.
Although will run from a user directory, there are some problems with programs that require suid root, e.g. the programs in the kdeadmin package. But since they are not meant to be run by users in the first place, this is nothing to worry about.
However, on systems using shadow passwords, the screensavers have to be suid root to enable password access for unlocking the screen, so this option will not work.
startkde fails with can not connect to X server. What is wrong?
You probably tried to start the X server with startkde. The X server is started with startx. startkde is the script that should be run from your .xinitrc, .xsession, or .Xclients to activate the window manager and the necessary server daemons for . See also .
on ?
If you have trouble building on check out Stefan Westerfeld's Running on Aix page for lots of help on building on this exceptional variant.
on a laptop?
If you can get the to run, you should not have any problem getting to run on it. In addition, you might find the following links helpful:
http://www.linux-laptop.net/
http://www.sanpei.org/Laptop-X/note-list.html
I do not like the default directory after installation. How do I move it without breaking anything?
Assuming the default is /opt/kde and you want to move it to /usr/local/kde, here's what you have to do:
change to superuser if you aren't already
mv /opt/kde /usr/local/kde
ln -s /usr/local/kde /opt/kde
This will put all your files in /usr/local/kde but everything is still accessible from /opt/kde.
What files can I delete from my install directory? Can all the *.h, *.c and *.o files be safely removed?
There should not be any need to keep the .c and .o files, but you might want to keep the .h files, as they are used by includes if you ever want to compile your own programs. But if you wish to add patches to the source programs as they become available (rather than downloading everything again), then they should stay.
Will I lose my current settings when I upgrade ?
No. In most cases will be able to transport your settings intact. You may need to reenter passwords in some applications (such as or ) but most other settings will be safe.
There were mixed reports of results between some previous versions of . To be safe, you may like to back up your entire configuration.
Settings are kept in the .kde or .kde2 subdirectory in your home directory. Copy your old .kde/.kde2 directory to a backup location, install 3.0, and then copy back any necessary mail and news settings. That said, most people can make a direct upgrade, without removing the old .kde directory, without a hitch.
Compiling kdebase gives me a bin/sh: msgfmt: command not found error!
You need the GNU msgfmt which is part of the GNU i18n package gettext. You should be able to download it from any decent GNU mirrors.
How do I uninstall applications compiled from scratch?
You can uninstall your programs by typing make uninstall in the directory where you did make install. If you have already nuked away that directory, then there is only one way, and it is not good: go to $KDEDIR/bin and start deleting files one by one.
What is up with support?
This has something to do with Unisys' patent. support is turned off from 1.44 onwards by default. When you want to use s and have the relevant license, recompile with support. ./configure -gif.
How do I install themes?
There is a Theme Manager in 2.2.1, so please refer to the Control Center Help for further reference, or look at kde.themes.org for KDE2 themes.