KDE

KDE is a powerful graphical desktop environment for Unix workstations.

Available versions
KDE SC 4 is the current KDE version supported by upstream. In Portage there is a stable version, and there might be one (or more) non-stable versions. Under normal conditions new versions get in stabilized after a month. In addition, KDE upstream provides live git source repositories. The Gentoo KDE team provides git master and latest branch live ebuilds through the kde overlay.

Choose what KDE SC version is most appropriate for you:

Profile
The Desktop profile has been split to KDE and GNOME subprofiles. This means that KDE and GNOME specific USE flags have been stripped from the basic desktop profile and have been migrated to the subprofiles. Choosing a subprofile does not restrict you to use only the equivalent desktop environment. In order to choose the profile that suits you, run

to get the profile list, and

where X is the appropriate number of the profile you want to select. See the page on profiles for more details. For a full KDE desktop environment we recommend to use the desktop/kde profile, which is specially tailored for KDE with OpenRC. If you want to use KDE with systemd we recommend to use the desktop/kde/systemd profile, which is specially tailored for KDE with systemd.

Services
Before you install KDE SC it is recommended that you set up several services. Part of that is done automatically if you use a desktop/kde or desktop profile. In detail you should use:
 * D-Bus: Enables use of the D-Bus message bus system.
 * polkit: Enables the polkit framework for controlling privileges for system-wide services.
 * udev: Enables support for udev Linux dynamic and persistent device naming.
 * udisks: Enables support for some storage related services.

Follow the links for information how to set up these services. Note that other USE flag combinations than set in this profile may technically be possible (especially if you do not run a full KDE desktop environment but only selected applications), but may be unsupported, untested, or lead to unexpected loss of functionality.

X server
Read and follow the instructions in the X server article to setup your X environment.

Packages
In Gentoo there are various packages that will install a KDE environment: It's usually a good idea to start with kdebase-meta and install whatever else you need as you go:
 * , the full KDE suite
 * , a basic KDE environment
 * , a very minimal, effectively unsupported KDE environment (no KDE applications or artwork)

There are other meta packages that can be installed to pull in parts of the KDE suite:
 * : Accessibility applications and utilities.
 * : Administrative utilities, which helps you manage your system.
 * : Extra themes, screensavers, etc.
 * : Bindings for various languages.
 * : Educational applications and games.
 * : Standard desktop games.
 * : Graphics applications such as image viewers, color pickers, etc.
 * : Audio and video playback applications and services.
 * : Network applications and VNC services.
 * : PIM applications such as emailer, addressbook, organizer, etc.
 * : Various development tools.
 * : Toy like applications.
 * : Standard desktop utilities such as a archiver, a calculator, etc.
 * : Web development tools.

Localization
For localization of KDE install. If you want only selected languages, define beforehand the LINGUAS USE flag, e.g. for German:

For localization of packages included in you need to install.

has its own localization package too,.

Boot service
KDM (KDE Display Manager) is recommended login manager for KDE. Now we need to set it as default and start it.

OpenRC
Set KDM as your default display manager:

To start KDM on boot, add xdm to your default runlevel:

To start KDM now:

Systemd
Enable KDM at boot time

and run

Widgets
Many useful widget are in the package:

More KDE software
The most important KDE applications are in the portage tree and many are located in the kde-base and kde-misc categories.

External resources

 * Official KDE user wiki
 * Official KDE forum
 * KDE-Apps.org
 * KDE-Look.org
 * KDE-Files.org