this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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KDE is an international technology team creating user-friendly free and open source software for desktop and portable computing. KDE’s software runs on GNU/Linux, BSD and other operating systems, including Windows.

Plasma 6 Bugs

If you encounter a bug, proceed to https://bugs.kde.org, check whether it has been reported.

If it hasn't, report it yourself.

PLEASE THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE POSTING HERE.

Developers do not look for reports on social media, so they will not see it and all it does is clutter up the feed.

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You know how a lot of people say they would love to contribute to Free Software but can't code? No more! Become a KDE Booth Buddy and help out at ScaLE!

This is @druonysus and he needs help managing the KDE booth at Scale 21x.

https://floss.social/@[email protected]/111887967308318720

If you are located in or visiting the Los Angeles area on the days of the event, DM Drew so you can just turn up and help!

@[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You don’t need to code to help FOSS! Things a non-coder can do:

  • Report bugs.
  • Find vague bug reports and try to reproduce the issue in as few steps as possible.
  • Update the documentation such as user manuals or help screens.
[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Translating can also be a huge help and often times there are very intuitive web interfaces for this

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

Weblate is great, you can translate strings of text during 5 minute breaks

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Hey, can you link a couple of these projects with web interface translation methods, or something similar and convenient? Having used a bunch of open software through centralized platforms or local files, I mostly encounter either inline, manual file change as translation option or adjacent strings files, but sadly no visualization or even context of where a line to be translated is used, etc.

Asking because I'm not really one to go through personal connections to devs or taking active parts in community discords to submit translations in text file formats. I'd like to see these other ones with semi-anonymously submitting translations for my select languages, and a couple examples for for convenience would help a lot for me to seek or ask for such things in the future.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Sure thing.

  • The best place to start is on the Get Involved page on out wiki. There you can read about the different ways you can help and contains all the links you may need.

  • The second best place would probably be just jumping right in into the New Contributors Matrix room and having a chat with the people there.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

So I'm what one might call a basic user. Mainly browser based tasks. I can use the terminal, but I don't have really much of anything memorized. Imagine giving a desktop running Fedora to your great aunt, not that one, the other one, who's constantly smoking and sexually harasses the busboys when they come to clean away the ashtrays. That one. That's my level of Linux proficiency.

Are any of these things I might be able to do? I would genuinely love to help, but I use FOSS for philosophical reasons, not because I understand the techy stuff. If it's doable at my level (or an achievable level), I'm eager.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So why are you sexually harassing busboys?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

It's a hobby more than an anything else.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Read this, see if there is anything that you would like to help with.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

I just switched to KDE after 10 years of GNOME. I love the power-user, windowsy feel it has

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] @druonysus ooh being a booth buddy is so nice! (did it several times at fosdem, and twice at non-software-focused conferences)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] @druonysus
Been working with Drew lately, he's an absolute joy and you should volunteer with him!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

@kde @druonysus @kde L.A. is a bit far for me, but I do hope he get lot of helpers.

And while I’m at it, thanks to all the good people at #KDE for their excellent work on Plasma and all their apps.
(I just wish Kmail wasn’t that far embedded into the desktop env’, so I could uninstall it without causing problem in my system, since I don’t use it. But that’s just me nitpicking, and might even be more a distro problem than a Plasma/KDE one.)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

AFAIK Plasma does not need KMail or even Kontact to work 100%. Where are you getting that from?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

@Bro666 My second to last install of Fedora which broke when I uninstalled some Kmail adjacent package. (Kcontacts among others.)

But you’re right, uninstalling Kmail itself doesn’t break Plasma.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Note that uninstalling (or choosing to not install) any part of KDE PIM (KMail, Kontact, Korganiser, Akonadi, etc.) should not affect Plasma or any other of its components*. if it does, you should notify your distro, because that is a bug in the packaging.

--

* For example, the calendar that pops up when you click the digital clock in the panel, should not be broken. It just won't show events or tasks from KDE PIM... Because PIM isn't there. Otherwise it should be fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

@Bro666 @Bigou It shouldn't break anything. We explicitly have KDE PIM as a separate install group because people want to remove it or make custom minimal installs. It *does* reduce the functionality of KDE Plasma, but it shouldn't break it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Yeah... I was surprised too.

@[email protected] 👆 from the horse's mouth. Neal is a seasoned Fedora/KDE dev.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

II had to specifically download kmail to use it. Your packages are poorly made.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Harsh, but true. There is no reason why any Kontact (KMail, KOrganiser, Akonadi, etc.) component should be required by Plasma. These things are independent. Sounds like someone has made a mistake somewhere with the dependencies on your distro.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

While KMail isn't necessary at all to use KDE (even Neon uses Thunderbird as its default email app) I think I know what you're getting at. The issue isn't KMail itself. Installing KMail will also install Kontact, which runs with Akonadi server on the back end, and Akonadi is the culprit for it being so "far embedded" into Plasma and on some setups can use up just as much RAM as Plasma itself on its own. It's my main complaint about KMail/Kontact/Akonadi, if they could get the RAM usage under control (you seriously don't need to use almost a freaking GB of RAM just to keep track of email, contacts and a calendar, Thunderbird does it using less than half the memory), it would be a really nice system for one bundled with a DE.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wrong. You can remove Akonadi no problem and it will not affect Plasma's workings. Plasma does not depend on any PIM component to be fully functional.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yes, I know that or else Plasma wouldn't work for most people. What I mean is that it's so "far embedded" in the sense that it uses an outsized amount of resources to do what it does compared to the rest of Plasma when it is installed, mainly for the sake of integration with those other parts of Plasma. But as far as I'm aware, KMail and other Kontact programs depend on it so you can't remove it and have them work. Which is Kontact's big problem, IMO. Way too taxing on the system for too little functionality at the end of the day.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Ok. You have ton understand that neither Kmail nor Kontact are part of the Plasma project in any shape or form. The same way as Krita, Kdenlive, KDE Connect, GCompris, etc. are not part of Plasma. Plasma does not need any of them to be fully functional and, conversely, none of them need Plasma. Hell, most of them don't even need Linux, being able to work on Windows, macOS, Android, etc.

Are KMail and Kontact dependant on Akonadi? Yes, but, again, Akonadi is not part of Plasma either. All are KDE, but they are all different projects, and none of them are Plasma.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

YES I UNDERSTAND THAT. I feel you're not reading me right here. You're getting hung up on the literal sense of the word "embedded" when I am just using it to relate it to the OP's concerns.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago