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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: KDE Applications December 2014 release: which apps are targeting Qt4/Qt5?
From:       Todd <toddrjen () gmail ! com>
Date:       2014-07-22 9:11:38
Message-ID: CAFpSVpJxc-7bE+Edfi9TJTWrk-P4BRPwFjiCbs6msd+ReuYe1A () mail ! gmail ! com
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On Jul 22, 2014 12:30 AM, "Frank Reininghaus" <frank78ac@googlemail.com>
wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> 2014-07-21 23:34 GMT+02:00 Albert Astals Cid:
> > El Dilluns, 21 de juliol de 2014, a les 13:26:32, Frank Reininghaus va
> > escriure:
> >> Hello everyone,
> >>
> >> after KDE SC 4.14, the next release of the KDE applications that are
> >> part of the KDE SC is planned for December. It will contain not only
> >> applications that are still based on Qt4+kdelibs 4.x, but also
> >> applications that have the first stable release of their Qt5+KF5 ports
> >> [1]. All application developers/maintainers can decide if they want to
> >> release another Qt4+kdelibs 4.x-based version, or if they want to
> >> release their first Qt5+KF5-based version.
> >>
> >> I think it would be helpful if there was a central site where
> >> information about the choices that developers have taken so far is
> >> collected, i.e., a place where everyone can look up quickly if
> >> application XYZ will have a Qt4-based or a Qt5-based release, or if it
> >> is still in the "not decided yet" state. One of the reasons why I
> >> consider such a thing useful is that quite a few applications have
> >> runtime dependencies that are provided other applications. For
> >> example,
> >>
> >> * Many applications have an embedded terminal, which is provided by
> >> the Konsole KPart. If Konsole does not release a Qt5-based version in
> >> December, then any application which does will not have an embedded
> >> terminal any more.
> >>
> >> * All of Konqueror's functionality is provided by KParts that are
> >> provided by libraries and applications and that are loaded at runtime.
> >> If some of these KParts will not have a Qt5-based release, then the
> >> functionality of a Qt5-based Konqueror would be severely limited.
> >>
> >> There are probably many more (and less obvious) examples of such
> >> run-time dependencies. Releasing these Qt5-based applications without
> >> their runtime dependencies will result in feature loss, and I'm afraid
> >> that this might lead to some users, who will probably expect a smooth
> >> transition to Qt5+KF5 because they can read everywhere that the port
> >> should be much simpler than the Qt3->Qt4 transition was (except for
> >> projects which take the opportunity to make some other architectural
> >> changes at the same time, such as Plasma) and the media saying "It's
> >> the old KDE 4.0 story again". I think that we should try to prevent
> >> that, and I believe that a central site where everyone can look up the
> >> release plans of all applications would be helpful.
> >>
> >> I've created a draft of a wiki page where this information could be
> >> collected at
> >>
> >>
https://community.kde.org/User:Freininghaus/draft-Qt4-Qt5-application-overvi
> >> ew
> >>
> >> What do you think about this idea? If there is agreement that my idea
> >> makes sense, I would move this page to a suitable place (maybe
> >>
https://community.kde.org/Frameworks/Application-release-status-December-201
> >> 4 ?) and send a message to k-c-d and kde-devel, asking all
> >> maintainers/core developers to fill in any relevant information that
> >> they already have.
> >
> > I'm not against it, having some kind of central place to coordinate
makes
> > sense.
> >
> > OTOTH i would only expect a maintainer to port stuff to KF5 if he knows
the
> > dependencies of its app are ported or are going to be ported by the
required
> > timeframe
>
> I fully agree :-)
>
> But at the moment, there is, to my knowledge, no easy way to find out
> if there will be a stable Qt5/KF5-based release of the dependencies in
> December 2014. This is the reason why I proposed to collect this
> information in a central place.
>
> Note that it's *not* enough that a dependency is ported to KF5. If the
> maintainer of that dependency decides that they prefer to have another
> kdelibs 4.x-based release in December in order to give the KF5 port
> some more time to mature, then users of most distros, which only ship
> stable releases of our software unless the user explicitly enables
> some extra package repositories, would still have no access to
> dependency. Any KF5-based application that tries to use that
> dependency at run time would lose features, and preventing that is
> just what I'm trying to achieve with this effort.
>
> Thanks and best regards,
> Frank

Maybe the list could have multiple levels, such as "not ported",
"unstable", "not feature-complete", "waiting", and "included".  Even if not
available by default, distros may still want to have stable ported
applications available to users as an optional alternative.

[Attachment #3 (text/html)]

<p dir="ltr"><br>
On Jul 22, 2014 12:30 AM, &quot;Frank Reininghaus&quot; &lt;<a \
href="mailto:frank78ac@googlemail.com">frank78ac@googlemail.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br> \
&gt;<br> &gt; Hi,<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; 2014-07-21 23:34 GMT+02:00 Albert Astals Cid:<br>
&gt; &gt; El Dilluns, 21 de juliol de 2014, a les 13:26:32, Frank Reininghaus va<br>
&gt; &gt; escriure:<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; Hello everyone,<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; after KDE SC 4.14, the next release of the KDE applications that \
are<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; part of the KDE SC is planned for December. It will contain not \
only<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; applications that are still based on Qt4+kdelibs 4.x, but \
also<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; applications that have the first stable release of their \
Qt5+KF5 ports<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; [1]. All application developers/maintainers can \
decide if they want to<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; release another Qt4+kdelibs 4.x-based \
version, or if they want to<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; release their first Qt5+KF5-based \
version.<br> &gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; I think it would be helpful if there was a central site where<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; information about the choices that developers have taken so far is<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; collected, i.e., a place where everyone can look up quickly if<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; application XYZ will have a Qt4-based or a Qt5-based release, or if \
it<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; is still in the &quot;not decided yet&quot; state. One of the \
reasons why I<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; consider such a thing useful is that quite a few \
applications have<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; runtime dependencies that are provided other \
applications. For<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; example,<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; * Many applications have an embedded terminal, which is provided by<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; the Konsole KPart. If Konsole does not release a Qt5-based version \
in<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; December, then any application which does will not have an \
embedded<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; terminal any more.<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; * All of Konqueror&#39;s functionality is provided by KParts that \
are<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; provided by libraries and applications and that are loaded at \
runtime.<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; If some of these KParts will not have a Qt5-based release, \
then the<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; functionality of a Qt5-based Konqueror would be severely \
limited.<br> &gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; There are probably many more (and less obvious) examples of such<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; run-time dependencies. Releasing these Qt5-based applications \
without<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; their runtime dependencies will result in feature loss, and \
I&#39;m afraid<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; that this might lead to some users, who will \
probably expect a smooth<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; transition to Qt5+KF5 because they can \
read everywhere that the port<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; should be much simpler than the \
Qt3-&gt;Qt4 transition was (except for<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; projects which take the \
opportunity to make some other architectural<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; changes at the same \
time, such as Plasma) and the media saying &quot;It&#39;s<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; the old \
KDE 4.0 story again&quot;. I think that we should try to prevent<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; \
that, and I believe that a central site where everyone can look up the<br> &gt; \
&gt;&gt; release plans of all applications would be helpful.<br> &gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; I&#39;ve created a draft of a wiki page where this information could \
be<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; collected at<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; <a href="https://community.kde.org/User:Freininghaus/draft-Qt4-Qt5-appli \
cation-overvi">https://community.kde.org/User:Freininghaus/draft-Qt4-Qt5-application-overvi</a><br>
 &gt; &gt;&gt; ew<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt;<br>
&gt; &gt;&gt; What do you think about this idea? If there is agreement that my \
idea<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; makes sense, I would move this page to a suitable place \
(maybe<br> &gt; &gt;&gt; <a \
href="https://community.kde.org/Frameworks/Application-release-status-December-201">ht \
tps://community.kde.org/Frameworks/Application-release-status-December-201</a><br> \
&gt; &gt;&gt; 4 ?) and send a message to k-c-d and kde-devel, asking all<br> &gt; \
&gt;&gt; maintainers/core developers to fill in any relevant information that<br> \
&gt; &gt;&gt; they already have.<br> &gt; &gt;<br>
&gt; &gt; I&#39;m not against it, having some kind of central place to coordinate \
makes<br> &gt; &gt; sense.<br>
&gt; &gt;<br>
&gt; &gt; OTOTH i would only expect a maintainer to port stuff to KF5 if he knows \
the<br> &gt; &gt; dependencies of its app are ported or are going to be ported by the \
required<br> &gt; &gt; timeframe<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; I fully agree :-)<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; But at the moment, there is, to my knowledge, no easy way to find out<br>
&gt; if there will be a stable Qt5/KF5-based release of the dependencies in<br>
&gt; December 2014. This is the reason why I proposed to collect this<br>
&gt; information in a central place.<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; Note that it&#39;s *not* enough that a dependency is ported to KF5. If the<br>
&gt; maintainer of that dependency decides that they prefer to have another<br>
&gt; kdelibs 4.x-based release in December in order to give the KF5 port<br>
&gt; some more time to mature, then users of most distros, which only ship<br>
&gt; stable releases of our software unless the user explicitly enables<br>
&gt; some extra package repositories, would still have no access to<br>
&gt; dependency. Any KF5-based application that tries to use that<br>
&gt; dependency at run time would lose features, and preventing that is<br>
&gt; just what I&#39;m trying to achieve with this effort.<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; Thanks and best regards,<br>
&gt; Frank</p>
<p dir="ltr">Maybe the list could have multiple levels, such as &quot;not \
ported&quot;, &quot;unstable&quot;, &quot;not feature-complete&quot;, \
&quot;waiting&quot;, and &quot;included&quot;.   Even if not available by default, \
distros may still want to have stable ported applications available to users as an \
optional alternative.<br>

</p>



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