On Sun, Jun 04, 2017 at 02:03:02PM -0600, Alan Feuerbacher wrote: > On 6/3/2017 6:47 PM, Ken Moffat wrote: > > > KF5 allows you to build kde applications (I have difficulty > > understanding why people like them, > > Why? >
I dislike some of the changes that have been made. Two examples: When I last used kde4, I could put a different wallpaper on each desktop. That is no longer possible. With dragon I used to find it easy to play video files - more recently, it has lacked any option to list all media files: instead of that I have to list files by type before I can find them and open them. More generally, I don't *like* many kde applications (nor do I like many gnome applications, and some from xfce are unuseful to me). And as somebody who builds from source, the number of dependencies in kde is disappointing - even more than gnome, packages seem to me to pull in unusual libraries. > > but I'm sure there are good reasons). > > In my 20 years of commercial Redhat experience, KDE was preferred over > anything else by both users and admins, by a large margin. > What is in Redhat is stabilised, and often old. So are many other distros - I used an OpenSuSe install to build LFS at one point in the last eighteen months: I was shocked by how much of their KDE was still kde4, although to be fair their build of the (now no-longer maintained, but at that time it was supposed to be transitioning to kde5) konqueror browser was usable - unlike the transitional versions. > But from my presently limited experience with Plasma, there's enough > difference compared to the commercial installations that that may change. As > of two years ago, I believe that RedHat was trying to migrate users to > Gnome. > I thought they had been doing that for many years. They try things in fedora, and if they think it has traction they do it in redhat. > > But startkde will start the plasma desktop. > > > > And then after that I read the rest of your mail. For some reason I > > find your posts hard to parse ;) > > ?? Not sure what you mean. If you're kidding, more power to you. If not, > what's unclear? Seriously, I try to be terse and clear. > I was replying to your paragraphs in order. And then I read down to your next item and discovered that you knew startkde started plasma. I've retained that part here. I still don't understand why you would think that plasma was not kde5 - it has the slow start, the strange default background, the ugly and almost-unreadable popup menus ... <joke/> > > > The closest I can find is "kdeinit5" but that does not work. I searched on > > > the Net but found nothing useful. > > > > > > > My full .xinitrc is a bit more complex as it takes an optional argument: > > > > > > > > > > What a useful script! I installed all of the listed window managers and > > > desktops, and they all work fine with this script, except for KDE5. Even > > > Plasma works fine. > > > > > > I changed two lines for my use: > > > > > > plasma ) exec $ck /opt/kf5/bin/startkde ;; > > > kde5 ) exec $ck /opt/kf5/bin/kdeinit5 ;; > > > > > > I'm suspecting that the KDE5 build is missing some software components. > > > > > > Alan > > > > Well, as I said above, startkde starts plasma. The best > > documentation google found for kdeinit5 is a manpage from ubuntu: > > http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/zesty/man8/kdeinit5.8.html > > > > Like so many other programs, it is part of what kde uses, but it is > > not a way to start a desktop. > > > > So, Bruce's script was correct. KDE used to be a small(ish) set of > > large packages, but for 5 almost everything is in its own package, > > and most of those rely on a lot of the other packages. > > I see that I have a lot more homework to do. > If you have come from an enterprise linux environment, you will need to get used to being nearer to the leading edge. We try not to be at the bleeding edge (unlike parts of fedora and of debian unstable), but sometimes our hand is forced. All I can suggest is two things: 1. Keep your own notes, so you can refer back to what works for you and, more importantly, what doesn't. 2. Expect problems as things change. But since I'm coming across as grumpy and exasperated, I'll repeat that you are welcome, and I'll note I'm impressed by the speed with which you build multiple packages. As with everything in BLFS, different people have different enthusiasms and dislikes. ĸen -- I live in a city. I know sparrows from starlings. After that everything is a duck as far as I'm concerned. -- Monstrous Regiment -- http://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/listinfo/blfs-support FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
