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<title>KDE Development</title>
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<h1>KDE Development</h1>
<img src="kule.gif" width=100%>
<p>
<h2>Introduction</h2>

This is the beta1 release of KDE, but there are already many useful
applications working.  The KDE developers hope that you enjoy using the
applications we are writing.  We ask that you assist us by testing the
software as it is released, and sending <a href="#bugs">bug reports</a>.
<p>
Keep in mind that alpha software is inherently buggy.
If you need a rock solid desktop you should probably wait for
a more stable release.  You may wish to install KDE in a test account
first.

<p>

<h2>Want to help?</h2>

We need your help to make KDE even better.<p>

You don't need to be a programmer (though we want more of these too).  If you
can document, draw icons, alpha/beta test then you can help.
<p>
If you would like to get involved in programming for the KDE project, the
simplest way is to mail a description of your proposed project to the
kde mailing list.  If a similar project is already underway you may wish
to help, otherwise take note of any suggestions offered and start coding!
<p>
To keep up to date with future releases of KDE, or
get involved more directly, please subscribe to the appropriate KDE
<a href="#lists">mailing list</a>.
<p>
As you can see the documentation needs a lot of work :-)
<p>

<h2>Feature Requests</h2>

At this stage of development we would rather not be flooded with feature
requests.  If you do have a great idea, then mail your idea to the general
mailing list.  Do not bother the developers directly.  If they like your
idea and have time to implement it you may get a nice surprise in the next
release.  Don't feel bad if your feature request goes unanswered - the
developer may have added it to their (often long) todo list.

<p>

<h2>What do I need to develop a KDE application?</h2>

All KDE applications are built using the Qt GUI toolkit from
<a href="http://www.troll.no/">Troll Tech</a>.  Qt is an excellent commercial
toolkit which includes a free license for X Window software which is freely
distributable.  This allows us to use a commercial quality product with
one restriction: the software we write must be free.  Obviously, this is
exactly what we are doing, so the Qt license is not considered restrictive
for our purpose.  Of course, if you wish to charge for an application you
wrote for KDE, you need to buy a Qt license - only fair.
<p>
The version of Qt currently required by KDE is Qt-1.3.  This is available
from <a href="ftp://ftp.troll.no/">Troll Tech's ftp site</a>, or from the
<a href="ftp://ftp.kde.org">KDE ftp site</a>.
<p>
In addition to Qt, a library of core functionality and widgets for use by
KDE applications has been developed:
<p>
<ul>
<li>libkdecore: configuration (rc) file loading/saving, URL handling, and
other functions required by all KDE applications.
<li>libkdeui: user interface components such as font and color dialogs,
and miscellaneous widgets used by KDE applications.
<li>libkhtmlw: KDE HTML widget.  This widget is used primarily by kfm and
kdehelp, but can be easily incorporated into any application which needs
to display HTML or formatted text.
</ul>
<p>
All of these libraries can be found in the kdelibs package.
<p>
Besides the software components mentioned above, there are guidelines
which should be followed as closely as possible to ensure a consistent
feel between applications. You should read the
<a href="http://er4www.eng.ohio-state.edu/~cooperb/kde/style.html">
Style Guide</a> and the <a href="http://www.anime.net/~goemon/kde_rfc.html">
KDE RFC</a>.
<p>

<h2>More Information</h2>
<p>
<h3><a name="lists"></a>KDE mailing lists</h3>

<dl>
<dt>kde-announce@fiwi02.wiwi.uni-tuebingen.de
<dd>General announcements, new releases, etc.<p>
<dt>kde@fiwi02.wiwi.uni-tuebingen.de
<dd>General discussion.<p>
<dt>kde-look@fiwi02.wiwi.uni-tuebingen.de
<dd>Discussion of look and feel of KDE, user interaction issues.<p>
<dt>kde-devel@fiwi02.wiwi.uni-tuebingen.de
<dd>Developers list - implementation details.
</dl>
<p>
To subsribe or unsubscribe to any of these lists send mail to:<p>
[list]-request@fiwi02.wiwi.uni-tuebingen.de<p>
with an empty Subject: line and
<tt>[un]subscribe [your-email-address]</tt> in the body.
<p>
<h3>WWW sites</h3>
The official KDE home page is located at
<a href="http://www.kde.org/">http://www.kde.org/</a>.
Other KDE sites are listed at the official site.
<p>

<h2><a name="bugs"></a>Reporting Bugs</h2>

There are two ways of reporting bugs in KDE software:
<ol>
<li>Report bugs with the web form at http://buglist.kde.org.
<li>Send a bug report to the mailing list.
</ol>
<p>
The first method is probably the most effective as the bug list maintainer
(David McCanney) annoys us until we fix the bug.<br>
<p>
<b>IMPORTANT:</b> The developers of KDE are volunteers who are working on KDE
in their free time.  Before you send a bug report, try to fix the problem
yourself - if you can code, then track down the problem and send a patch.
If you can't fix the problem, then send a <em>polite</em> bug report to one
of the addresses shown above.  Be comprehensive:
<p>
<ul>
<li>What did you do to activate the bug?
<li>Is it reproducable?
<li>What debugging output does the application write to the console
immediately before and after the bug occurs?
<li>If it crashes the app, send a stack backtrace.
</ul>
<p>
<b>Note:</b> Several KDE packages have been ported from an existing package.
  Please don't bother the original author - contact the person doing the port
  to make sure it hasn't been introduced by the KDE programmer.
<p>
<b>BTW:</b> Even if your favourite KDE package has no bugs (yeah, I know - this
doesn't happen in the real world), let the author know you like his
program - a little encouragement helps maintain enthusiasm (we do it for
love, not money ;-).
<p>
<img src="kule.gif" width=100%>
<address>Written by Martin R. Jones &lt;mjones@kde.org&gt; 1997, for the
KDE project</address>
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