Project:KDE/Frameworks

KDE Frameworks 5 (KF5) is the next major release of the KDE libraries. The major focus is refactoring, which will allow applications to make use of KDE libraries without having to depend on large packages like kdelibs. Some code was even migrated upstream to Qt 5, which frameworks depends upon.

All Gentoo support for KF5 is in KDE overlay. Already packaged modules available with @kde-frameworks-live set.

High level overview
KDE libraries are split into individual frameworks organised in tiers. Tier 1 libraries may only depend on Qt frameworks or other system libraries. Tier 2 libraries may only depend on tier 1 libraries, Qt frameworks or other system libraries, and so on. KDE workspaces build upon frameworks to provide the user environment. KDE applications build upon frameworks and workspace to complete the picture.

In order to match the distinct three-way upstream categorisation, we will introduce three new categories: kde-frameworks, kde-workspace, and kde-apps. As individual upstream projects move to frameworks, we too will move them to kde-apps, eventually leaving kde-base empty.

We will introduce at least one new eclass (kde-frameworks) in order to make a clean break from the old eclasses, which have accumulated a lot of legacy code over time. Depending on how frameworks, workspaces, and applications are eventually released, it may prove useful to maintain individual eclasses (perhaps with a base common eclass) for each of the three to keep things simple.

Todo

 * Urgent - patch kde4-meta.eclass to use KDE/4.x branch for kde-workspace 9999 ebuilds, as master will soon be KF5 ✅
 * Tests are optional to build, but dependencies required for them are still pulled in. The add_subdirectory entry for autotests should just be commented out when tests are disabled. tests/ and examples/ should always be removed.
 * Follow up test failures with upstream

Blockers

 * Naming scheme - kde-workspace master will become KF5 soon, breaking all -9999 overlay ebuilds from that repo
 * Parallel installation (kde-base/kdelibs and kde-frameworks/* naturally collide)
 * Qt 5 in the tree
 * New eclass approval
 * New category approval

Naming scheme
We need to determine a new naming scheme for live ebuilds, as repositories slowly move to KF5 in master. Does anybody remember why we use 4.x.49.9999 vs 4.x.9999?

Current scheme:
 * 4.x.49.9999 (KDE/4.x branch)
 * 9999 (master aka KDE/4.x+1)

Suggested scheme:
 * 4.x.49.9999 (KDE/4.x branch)
 * 4.9999 (old master aka KDE/4.x+1)
 * 9999 (master aka KF5)

Everything
All implementation details should be discussed to ensure we implement the best solution.