KDE Platform 4

Last updated
KDE Platform 4
Original author(s) KDE
Developer(s) KDE
Initial release11 January 2008;15 years ago (2008-01-11) [1]
Final release 4.14.12 (September 15, 2015;7 years ago (2015-09-15)) [±] [2]
Repository
Written in C++ [3] [4]
Type
License GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

KDE Platform 4 was a collection of libraries and software frameworks by KDE that served as technological foundation for KDE Software Compilation 4 distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). KDE Platform 4 was the successor to KDElibs and the predecessor of KDE Frameworks. KDE Platform 4 is the only version of KDE Platform, and in 2013 it was replaced by KDE Frameworks 5.

Contents

KDE Software Compilation structure KDE brand map.svg
KDE Software Compilation structure

Technologies

Technologies superseded in KDE Platform 4

KParts

KParts is the component framework for the KDE Plasma desktop environment. An individual component is called a KPart. KParts are analogous to Bonobo components in GNOME and ActiveX controls in Microsoft's Component Object Model. Konsole is available as a KPart and is used in applications like Konqueror and Kate.

Example uses of KParts:

Solid

Solid is a device integration framework for KDE Platform 4 and its successor, KDE Frameworks. It functions on similar principles to KDE's multimedia pillar Phonon; rather than managing hardware on its own, it makes existing solutions accessible through a single API. The current solution uses udev, NetworkManager and BlueZ (the official Linux Bluetooth stack). However, any and all parts can be replaced without breaking the application, making applications using Solid extremely flexible and portable. [5] [6] Work is underway to build a Solid backend for the Windows port of KDE based on Windows Management Instrumentation. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konqueror</span> Web browser and file manager

Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems. It forms a core part of the KDE Software Compilation. Developed by volunteers, Konqueror can run on most Unix-like operating systems. The KDE community licenses and distributes Konqueror under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDevelop</span> Integrated development environment

KDevelop is a free and open-source integrated development environment (IDE) for Unix-like computer operating systems and Windows. It provides editing, navigation and debugging features for several programming languages, and integration with build automation and version-control systems, using a plugin-based architecture.

freedesktop.org (fd.o) is a project to work on interoperability and shared base technology for free-software desktop environments for the X Window System (X11) and Wayland on Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. It was founded by Havoc Pennington, a GNOME developer working for Red Hat in March 2000. Some of the project's servers are hosted by Portland State University, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Google.

aRts is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It was best known for previously being used in K Desktop Environment 2 and 3 to simulate an analog synthesizer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konsole</span> Terminal emulator

Konsole is a free and open-source terminal emulator graphical application which is part of KDE Applications and ships with the KDE desktop environment. Konsole was originally written by Lars Doelle. It ls licensed under the GPL-2.0-or-later and the GNU Free Documentation License.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate (text editor)</span> Text editor

The KDE Advanced Text Editor, or Kate, is a source code editor developed by the KDE free software community. It has been a part of KDE Software Compilation since version 2.2, which was first released in 2001. Intended for software developers, it features syntax highlighting, code folding, customizable layouts, regular expression support, and extensibility. The text editor's mascot is Kate the Cyber Woodpecker.

XMLGUI is a KDE framework for designing the user interface of an application using XML, using the idea of actions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krusader</span> Dual-pane file manager for KDE desktop environment

Krusader is an advanced orthodox file manager for KDE and other desktops in the Unix world. It is similar to the console-based GNU Midnight Commander, GNOME Commander for the GNOME desktop environment, or Total Commander for Windows, all of which can trace their paradigmatic features to the original Norton Commander for DOS. It supports extensive archive handling, mounted filesystem support, FTP, advanced search, viewer/editor, directory synchronisation, file content comparisons, batch renaming, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Software Compilation 4</span> Software

KDE Software Compilation 4 was the only series of the so-called KDE Software Compilation, first released in January 2008 and the last release being 4.14.3 released in November 2014. It was the follow-up to K Desktop Environment 3. Following KDE SC 4, the compilation was broken up into basic framework libraries, desktop environment and applications, which are termed KDE Frameworks 5, KDE Plasma 5 and KDE Applications, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kicker (KDE)</span> Taskbar for the K Desktop Environment

Kicker is the main panel used in KDE 3 and earlier, and also in the TDE desktop. Together with KDesktop, it forms the graphical shell. It can be customized by the user. By default, it has the K Menu, a Desktop Access button, a Home button, a Konqueror button, a Kontact button, and a Help button. It also has the Desktop Preview & Pager, the Taskbar, the System Tray, and the Clock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Plasma 4</span> Graphical environments provided by KDE

KDE Plasma 4 was the fourth generation of the KDE workspace environments. It consisted of three workspaces, each targeting a certain platform: Plasma Desktop for traditional desktop PCs and notebooks, Plasma Netbook for netbooks, and Plasma Active for tablet PCs and similar devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolphin (file manager)</span> File manager for KDE desktop environment

Dolphin is a free and open source file manager included in the KDE Applications bundle. Dolphin became the default file manager of the KDE Plasma desktop environments in the fourth iteration, termed KDE Software Compilation 4. It can also be optionally installed on K Desktop Environment 3. It replaces Konqueror as the default file manager for KDE SC 4, but Konqueror can still be used as an alternative file manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K Desktop Environment 3</span> Free software

K Desktop Environment 3 is the third series of releases of the K Desktop Environment. There are six major releases in this series. After the release of KDE 4, version 3.5 was forked into the Trinity Desktop Environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K Desktop Environment 2</span> Free software

K Desktop Environment 2 was the second series of releases of the K Desktop Environment. There were three major releases in this series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Software Compilation</span> Desktop environment and an associated range of KDE Applications produced by KDE

The KDE Software Compilation was an umbrella term for the desktop environment plus a range of included applications produced by KDE. From its 1.0 release in July 1998 until the release of version 4.4 in February 2010, the Software Compilation was simply known as KDE, which stood for K Desktop Environment until the rebrand. The then called KDE SC was used from 4.4 onward until the final release 4.14 in July 2014. It consisted of the KDE Plasma 4 desktop and those KDE applications, whose development teams chose to follow the Software Compilation's release schedule. After that, the KDE SC was split into three separate product entities: KDE Plasma, KDE Frameworks and KDE Applications, each with their own independent release schedules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KWrite</span> Text editor for KDE desktop environment

KWrite is a lightweight text editor developed by the KDE free software community. Since K Desktop Environment 3, Kwrite has been based on the Kate text editor and the KParts framework, allowing it to use many of Kate's features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Frameworks</span> Collection of libraries and software frameworks for the Qt framework

KDE Frameworks is a collection of libraries and software frameworks readily available to any Qt-based software stacks or applications on multiple operating systems. Featuring frequently needed functionality solutions like hardware integration, file format support, additional graphical control elements, plotting functions, and spell checking, the collection serves as technological foundation for KDE Plasma 5 and KDE Gear distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Gear</span> Set of applications and supporting libraries

The KDE Gear is a set of applications and supporting libraries that are developed by the KDE community, primarily used on Linux-based operating systems but mostly multiplatform, and released on a common release schedule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDE Projects</span>

KDE Projects are projects maintained by the KDE community, a group of people developing and advocating free software for everyday use, for example KDE Plasma and KDE Frameworks or applications such as Amarok, Krita or Digikam. There are also non-coding projects like designing the Breeze desktop theme and iconset, which is coordinated by KDE's Visual Design Group. Even non-Qt applications like GCompris, which started as a GTK-based application, or web-based projects like WikiToLearn are officially part of KDE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KaOS</span> KDE-focused Linux distribution

KaOS is a desktop Linux distribution that features the latest version of the KDE desktop environment, the LibreOffice office suite, and other popular software applications that use the Qt toolkit.

References

  1. "KDE 4.0 Release Announcement". 11 January 2008.
  2. "KDE Ships KDE Applications 15.08.1". KDE . 15 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  3. "The KDE development platform" . Retrieved 2010-11-26.
  4. "Development/Languages" . Retrieved 2010-12-04.
  5. K Desktop Environment - KDE 4.0 Released
  6. "UPower, UDev and UDisks Support, Metadata Backup". Archived from the original on 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  7. "KDE Commit Digest issue 107". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2010-10-16.