[gentoo-dev] Multiple kdelibs

[Dan Armak]

Hi all,

I want to raise yet again the issue of multiple qt/kde.

We have solved the issue of having multiple QT libs installed. However, this 
is not much help without having multiple kdelibs installed as well, since 
nearly all qt apps are kde apps as well.

The problem here is that while a user typically uses only one kde, he usually 
has a large amount of supplementary kde-based apps (everything outside 
kde-base, which insludes koffice, kdevelop, and the other 1000+ kde apps).

Another thing to remember is the fact that back in the kde 1->2 move, about 
1/3 of all kde apps (my estimation) were never ported to kde2, and were more 
or less abandoned. It was a very long time before the others were ported and 
achieved the same level of stability and features. So people who use kde as 
their main desktop may well prefer to stay with kde2.x and the apps they use 
than move to kde3.x right away.

There are several options imo (in no particular order):
1. Develop a scheme for kdelibs similar to that used with qt. Place different 
kdelibs in /usr/lib/kdelibs-$V and juggle paths around. Use eclasses to 
ensure correct kdelibs is used.
Pro: easy to set up, unless unexpected problem emerges.
Con: there's not much sense in having mutliple kdelibs like this unless we go 
for option 2.
This is FHS0compatible, but probably falls under some "in the last extreme" 
clause.

2. Revert to putting whole kde's in /opt/kde$V.
Pro: easy to handle once working. Best for users, who can mix kde versions 
and apps at will.
Con: goes against the FHS, which started this whole mess in the first place.

3. Enforce single kdelibs. This also means enforcing a single qt.
Pro: easiest to implement and manage.
Con: will greatly inconvinience users.

Right now it looks as if we're heading towards (3). I think there's no point 
in choosing (2) over (1).

What do you think?


-- 

Dan Armak
Gentoo Linux Developer, Desktop Team
Matan, Israel