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List:       kde-mac
Subject:    Re: Install presence
From:       Ian Wadham <iandw.au () gmail ! com>
Date:       2021-06-18 3:19:40
Message-ID: 8F679F7B-F6E2-4573-AFC4-196334120817 () gmail ! com
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Hi Aleix,

> On 16 Jun 2021, at 10:30 am, Aleix Pol <aleixpol@kde.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Mac, Windows,
> I'm preparing the Akademy presentation for the "KDE is All About the
> Apps" goal and I'm looking to explain a bit the state of things.
> 
> I don't have direct information about both KDE apps's Mac and Windows
> user base. Would you be able to give me some information or give me
> access to it? It would help me paint a picture of the state of things.

I don't wish to rain on your parade and I see that your presentation to Akademy is \
only two or three days away, but I would like to make a couple of points which I \
think would be vital any change of heart by the KDE Community that could lead to the \
"KDE is All About the Apps" goal being achieved.

Neither point is mentioned on https://community.kde.org/Goals/All_about_the_Apps.

Firstly, the KDE Community has no strong policy on maintaining and supporting apps \
and keeping them running. Basically they depend upon the original author performing \
those functions and finding himself a suitable successor when he wishes to move on. \
Often the author just disappears suddenly, with no announcement. Even if he does make \
an announcement, there is little action from the KDE Community. I would suggest that, \
as a consequence, a large percentage of the 200 KDE apps, probably more than 50%, are \
"unmaintained". Bugzilla is very good, but bugs sit around unsolved, wishlists are \
ignored and features get out of date and out of fashion when an app is "unmaintained" \
for several years. Users of apps do not like this. The KDE Community needs a strong \
policy for taking over and maintaining and supporting apps that have fallen into this \
state. I would be happy to make suggestions.

Secondly, would-be authors of KDE apps fall foul of what I call LGM (Library \
Generated Maintenance). It is obligatory that they should use KDE and Qt libraries, \
but those libraries are constantly changing and have little regard for backwards \
compatibility. Consequently developers of apps have to run hard in order to stay in \
the same place (i.e. have an app that is stable and reliable as a base on which to \
move forward and make enhancements). I was a developer on KDE Games for about 15 \
years and I estimate I spent about half my development time keeping up to date with \
library changes.

Regarding Apple Mac, in addition to what René had to say about apps like Krita that \
are hand-tailored by their authors to build on Apple Mac, there have historically \
been groups such as MacPorts and Homebrew who port and build a huge range of FOSS \
software to run on Apple Mac, including most KDE apps and the libraries they use. \
Unfortunately, the KDE apps on MacPorts are, in a word, moribund. The apps are \
running with KDE 4 and Qt 4 libraries (KDE 4.14.3) on MacPorts. These are compiled \
from snapshots of the KDE repositories. I myself use KMyMoney and KDE Games quite a \
lot. However that code is frozen solid - no new features or fixes available.

As far as I know, nobody has succeeded in porting to MacPorts the KF5 library and the \
latest versions of source code of KDE apps, although some of us tried very hard. I \
used to have a flourishing development setup on Apple Mac under KDE 4 and I used it \
for KDE app development on MacBook for about 5 years. That all came to a grinding \
halt when KF5 was released.

So yes, you have a LOT of work to do before you can truly say that "KDE is All About \
the Apps". All the the best and I hope your talk goes well.

Cheers,
Ian W.


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