Session notes/research for Linux Unplugged 63

Interview today for Linux Unplugged 63 which was fun! However we never discussed Kubuntu, which I understood was the subject. I had gotten together facts and links in case they were needed, so I thought I would post them in case anybody needs the information.

Created and supported by community: http://www.kubuntu.org/support

Professional support for users: http://kubuntu.emerge-open.com/buy

Support by Blue Systems to some developers & projects:

http://www.blue-systems.com/ http://www.blue-systems.com/projects/

Infrastructure support by Ubuntu, KDE, Blue Systems and Debian

Governance: Kubuntu Council https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-council

How to contact us: kubuntu.org, freenode irc: #kubuntu (-devel), kubuntu-user list, kubuntu-devel list, kubuntuforum

  - http://kubuntu.org

  - http://webchat.freenode.net/

  - https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-users

  - https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-devel

  - https://www.kubuntuforums.net

  - Documentation on KDE userbase: http://userbase.kde.org/Kubuntu

  - Kubuntu in the news: http://wire.kubuntu.org/

* our "upstream" KDE is also making big changes, starting by splitting kdelibs into the Frameworks, and basing them on Qt5

  - that work is largely done, although of course each library is being improved as time goes along. Releases monthly.

  - We're writing a KDE Frameworks book; more about that at books.kde.org

  - Developers: apidox at api.kde.org

* KDE has now released Plasma 5, based on those new frameworks

  - that is nearly done, and 5.1 was released 15 Oct.

https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.1/

  - lots of excitement around that, because it looks and works really elegant, smooth and modern

  - Riddell: 14.12 release of KDE Applications will be in December with a mix of Qt 4 and Qt 5 apps, they should both work equally well on your Plasma 4 or 5 desktop and look the same with the classic Oxygen or lovely new Breeze themes

*  so our upstream is up to lots of new wonderful stuff, including using CI too (CI: continuous integration with automated testing)

* meanwhile, bugfixes continue on KDE4:

https://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-4.14.2.php

* Our base for 14.10 (codename Utopic Unicorn) is that stable KDE platform.

* At the same time, we are releasing weekly ISOs of Plasma 5, to make

it easy for people to test

  - http://apachelog.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/plasma-5-weekly-iso-revisited/

 - Riddell: We're releasing a tech preview of Kubuntu Plasma 5 as part of 14.10 for people to test. I'm using it daily and it's working great but expect testers to be competent enough to check for and report beasties

* we're following along to KDE's CI effort, and doing that with our packages

  - see #kubuntu-ci IRC channel for the reports as they are generated

 - Riddell: gory details at http://kci.pangea.pub/

 - packages built constantly to check for any updates that need changed

* Our new packaging is now in Debian git, so we can share packaging work

  - as time goes on, all our packaging files will be there

  - tooling such as packaging scripts are being updated

  - Debian and Kubuntu packagers will both save time which they can use to improve quality

* moving from LightDM to SDDM (Simple Desktop Display Manager), KDE/Qt default

graphical login program

* moving to systemd replacing upstart along with Debian and Ubuntu at some point in the future

* moving to Wayland when it is ready along with KDE (Kwin); now on xorg windowing system. We do not plan to use Ubuntu's Mir

* Testing until release (please!) on the 23rd:

  - http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/325/builds/82050/testcases

  - http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/325/builds/82052/testcases

* Testing Plasma 5:

http://apachelog.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/plasma-5-weekly-iso-revisited/

(fresh install)

  - https://community.kde.org/Plasma/Packages#Kubuntu (upgrading)

* Another way we stay close to KDE is that since Ubuntu stopped inviting community members to participate in face-to-face meetings, we have a Kubuntu Day with Akademy, KDE's annual meeting. Thanks to the Ubuntu Contributors who paid the travel costs for some of us to attend

Qt Free: http://qt-project.org/wiki/The_Qt_Governance_Model

--

Thanks to Jonathan Riddell for his clarifications and corrections

Weeeee, Kubuntu 14.04 is out! and already looking to the future

The past week has been exhilarating and exhausting for our Kubuntu crew. I'm sure the other *buntu teams were working just as hard. Not just packaging, because that goes on all the time, though not at this intense pace. But the attention to detail, the testing, polishing, patching, discussion with developers to get those patches upstream, coordination with Debian, cleaning up copyright files, man pages and other documentation, making screen shots, our user docs and new website, more testing, more polish.... it was truly an amazing effort.

I used `ubuntu-bug` from the cli more than I ever have before, testing out the betas. It was an amazing experience to file the bug, and then see it fixed within the day! This happened again and again. The entire Ubuntu ecosystem really works well together. My thanks to those developers who read and respond to those bug reports.

What I love about Kubuntu is how everyone pitches in. All of us try to maintain balance in our lives, so that there is time for leisure and enrichment, along with work. Also, the work is fun, because the team enjoys one another, posting fun links, joking around, but continuing to work away on our todo lists. Even those who didn't have time for packaging, often stopped by the devel channel to find out what needed testing. It all helped!

Since I'm not a devel, all this was inspiring rather than exhausting. So I had the time and energy to spend time helping out folks with questions and trouble in #kubuntu and #kde. That felt great! We were able to answer most of the questions, and overcome most of the difficulties.

One issue that came up quite a few times in the last couple of days, was PPAs. On a clean install, of course all old PPAs are blown away. On an upgrade, however, they can linger and cause lots of perplexing problems. Official PPAs like backports are fine, but specialty ones should be removed before upgrading. If you need them, you can always re-add after the upgrade. For the same reason, unpin any packages you have pinned.

It is really fabulous to be able to present the latest KDE software into our Kubuntu LTS. This will give us the freedom to try out the newest stuff from KDE based on the sparkly new Frameworks, Plasma Next and so forth, in our next release. So, our users will be able to use software supported for five years if they want, while also having the option to install 14.10 (if all goes well) and check out the newest.