Is KDE 4.6 stable?

[joneall]

I'd like to install KDE 4.6 but do not feel like being a guinea pig. Apparently, it is recommended by Kubuntu.

Anyone have any serious problems with it? Does Kontact work ok? Also Amarok? (Those are the two I sometimes have problems with.)

TIA!

[ardvark71]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

Hi...

I'm not sure, I'm still using 4.4. However, according to this thread, 4.6 is supposedly faster but still has some bugs. This might be one of them, although it was reported using the rc2 version. I don't know if it was fixed in the final release.

Regards...

[exploder]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

KDE 4.6.0 seems stable to me and I have had no problems with the applications you mentioned. The only fixing I really had to do was with my NVidea graphics drivers but that was not really KDE related. There is a thread about KDE 4.6.0, you might want to read through it to see the problems and solutions others have found. In my opinion KDE 4.6.0 was a good upgrade.

[lmilano]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

I'd like to install KDE 4.6 but do not feel like being a guinea pig. Apparently, it is recommended by Kubuntu.

Look here:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3115409.0

The software seems fairly stable, but keep in mind that people have had little quirks here and there. I am not switching my home multi-user desktop yet. Keep in mind that 4.6.1, 4.6.2 and so forth will be bugfixing releases for the new features in 4.6.0. Also, if there are issues with external software like ardvark71 was saying, these will be fixed gradually in the coming weeks/months.

Kubuntu doesn't support this software officially. Please see the description of the backports ppa where it is hosted:
https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+archive/backports.

One of the reasons I run kubuntu is the ease of upgrading KDE. You can always get the latest packages. I tend to do that, but I tend to avoid .0 releases

[Snowhog]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

Does Kontact work ok? Also Amarok? (Those are the two I sometimes have problems with.)

Can't speak for Amarok, as I don't use it due to the fact it does not work (reliably) with audio CDs. As to Kontact, it works flawless here on my KDE 4.6.00. I'd say that if you have Kontact and akonadi properly configured and Kontact is working for you now, upgrading to KDE 4.6.00 won't cause any problems - it didn't for me.

The caveat is, however, to ensure your current system is fully upgraded before you add the repository and actually upgrade to 4.6.00. Just check Software Sources > Updates > Release upgrade and ensure Normal Releases is selected. For me, I also (always) have the four items checked under Kubuntu Updates as well.

After you have verified the above, I would strongly recommend updating/dist-upgrading from the console:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

After that is finished, go back into Software Sources and temporarily disable (comment) any non-standard (third-party / ppa) repositories. Save and close Software Sources. Open a console and add the KDE 4.6.00 repository and key:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

Then run:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Be prepared for a butt-load of updated packages. When I upgraded January 29th, these were the changes:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
libakonadiprivate1 libkephal4 libkonq5 libpolkit-qt-1-0 libprocesscore4a
libsolidcontrolifaces4 libtaskmanager4a libweather-ion5
The following NEW packages will be installed:
freespacenotifier gconf2 gconf2-common libakonadiprotocolinternals1
libcanberra0 libdiscid0 libdmtx0a libgconf2-4 libidl0 libkcalcore4
libkcalutils4 libkcmutils4 libkdcraw9 libkemoticons4 libkephal4a
libkexiv2-9 libkidletime4 libkipi8 libkonq5a libkprintutils4
libmusicbrainz3-6 libnepomukutils4 libntrack-qt4-1 libntrack0 liborbit2
libpolkit-qt-1-1 libpowerdevilcore0 libprocesscore4b libqt4-declarative
libsexy2 libsolidcontrolifaces4a libtaskmanager4b libupower-glib1
libweather-ion6 libwnck-common libwnck22 libxres1 notification-daemon
plasma-scriptengine-declarative upower
The following packages will be upgraded:
akonadi-server akonadiconsole amarok-common amarok-utils ark dolphin
gwenview k3b k3b-data kaddressbook kamera kate kcalc kde-l10n-engb
kde-window-manager kde-zeroconf kdebase-bin kdebase-data kdebase-runtime
kdebase-runtime-data kdebase-workspace kdebase-workspace-bin
kdebase-workspace-data kdebase-workspace-kgreet-plugins
kdegraphics-libs-data kdegraphics-strigi-plugins kdelibs-bin kdelibs5
kdelibs5-data kdelibs5-dbg kdelibs5-plugins kdemultimedia-kio-plugins
kdepasswd kdepim-groupware kdepim-kresources kdepim-runtime
kdepim-strigi-plugins kdepim-wizards kdepimlibs-kio-plugins kdiff3
kdiff3-doc kdm kdoctools kfind khelpcenter4 kinfocenter klipper kmag kmail
kmix kmousetool knotes konsole kontact korganizer kpackagekit kppp krdc
krfb krosspython ksnapshot ksysguard ksysguardd ksystemlog ktimetracker
kwalletmanager libakonadi-contact4 libakonadi-kabc4 libakonadi-kcal4
libakonadi-kde4 libakonadi-kmime4 libattica0 libgpg-error0 libgpgme++2
libk3b6 libk3b6-extracodecs libkabc4 libkatepartinterfaces4 libkblog4
libkcal4 libkcddb4 libkde3support4 libkdecorations4 libkdecore5 libkdepim4
libkdesu5 libkdeui5 libkdewebkit5 libkdnssd4 libkfile4 libkholidays4
libkhtml5 libkimap4 libkimproxy4 libkio5 libkjsapi4 libkjsembed4 libkldap4
libkleo4 libkmediaplayer4 libkmime4 libknewstuff2-4 libknewstuff3-4
libknotifyconfig4 libkntlm4 libkonq5-templates libkontactinterface4
libkparts4 libkpgp4 libkpimidentities4 libkpimtextedit4 libkpimutils4
libkpty4 libkresources4 libkrosscore4 libkrossui4 libkscreensaver5
libksgrd4 libksieve4 libksignalplotter4 libktexteditor4 libktnef4
libkunitconversion4 libkutils4 libkwineffects1a libkworkspace4
libkxmlrpcclient4 libmailtransport4 libmessagecore4 libmessagelist4
libmicroblog4 libmimelib4 libnepomuk4 libnepomukquery4a libokularcore1
libphonon4 libplasma-geolocation-interface4 libplasma3 libplasmaclock4b
libplasmagenericshell4 libpolkit-agent-1-0 libpolkit-backend-1-0
libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libprocessui4a libqapt-runtime libqapt1 libqgpgme1
libqjson0 libsolid4 libsolidcontrol4a libsoprano4 libsyndication4
libthreadweaver4 okular okular-extra-backends oxygen-icon-theme
oxygen-icon-theme-complete phonon phonon-backend-xine
plasma-dataengines-addons plasma-dataengines-workspace plasma-desktop
plasma-netbook plasma-scriptengine-javascript plasma-scriptengine-python
plasma-widget-folderview plasma-widget-kimpanel
plasma-widget-kimpanel-backend-ibus plasma-widget-lancelot
plasma-widget-quickaccess plasma-widgets-addons plasma-widgets-workspace
policykit-1 policykit-1-gnome polkit-kde-1 printer-applet python-kde4
python-qt4 python-qt4-dbus python-sip qapt-batch soprano-daemon
system-config-printer-kde systemsettings
184 upgraded, 40 newly installed, 8 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

All went smoothly here.

[exploder]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

Wow Snowhog! Very nice complete information.

[sjhstorm]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

Can't say about Kontact I do not use it, but Amarok is working just fine and it plays audio CD's. Only issue I had when upgrading to 4.6 was that it uninstalled Muon, but this was easily fixed by re-installing Muon.

[Teunis]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

I've been running 4.6 since around rc1 and I like it.
But it's not perfectly stable, about once a day I have to use the Magic Keys to restart.
It looks like it's a Plasma problem, when I switch it off things don't lock up.

But there are a few programs that don't yet run properly like the E-book reader Calibre and Google Earth, the last is more of a Google/Canonical problem than related to KDE.

A KDE problem I had/have is when accessing an external drive with many photo's the kio-thumbnailer brings the system to it's knees when it takes nearly all of the 2GB of RAM this laptop has.

[axel668]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

running Kubuntu 10.10 with KDE 4.6 since day 1 and did not have any problems so far.

[Mountain Man]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

4.6 seems pretty stable to me, and it's faster than previous versions. The only recurring problem I have is that every once in a while I'll get an error message when I exit, but it's a minor nuisance at worst.

[sithlord48]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

been running 4.6 on Maverick on my desktop and Natty on my netbook for a while now. and the only issue i have is that on my desktop i can send things to the trash, i get an error message saying "the trash protocal died unexpectly".Delete (shift+del) still works so i don't really care that much. kde 4.6 is way more responice then the older versions. on both my desktop and on the nattys wip, amarok has a much better way of scanning your collection in the new version, it sees all my music finally after amarok 2.3 would only see a few songs no matter what i tried. im very happy with kde 4.6.

[z_mikowski]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

Very stable in my experience. Using it on my work laptop (Dell Studio 15) and home server (AMD 4x core, NVIDIA graphics). In the upgrade from 4.5->4.6, I have seen no regressions, only improvements.

[Xinixs]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

KDE 4.6 has some glitches to iron out. One is that screen painting is quirky. GTK apps (like Firefox or Chrome) have problems in that part of the screen is not refreshed or drawn at all. So you miss parts of a webpage, or links are drawn in a different place than where you actually need to click.

Another issue is that VLC now takes about a minute to open a file dialog. Not nice when looking for subtitles... This is a known issue with QT if I am correct.

4.6 is noticeably snappier than 4.5. It logs in faster, and desktop effects are smoother. However, the screen drawing glitches have made me go back to 4.5.5 (which was a pain, but that's a different story).

[Xinixs]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

For the record: the Kwin glitches have been resolved for me by installing the new intel driver as detailed here: http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f...92993&start=15

[lmilano]

Re: Is KDE 4.6 stable?

For the record: the Kwin glitches have been resolved for me by installing the new intel driver as detailed here: http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f...92993&start=15

Ah, interesting! I think I will really wait for Kubuntu 11.04 to be out to make the switch. All these little things will be ironed out, and all 4 computers in my home are pretty happy with 4.5.latest

Thanks for the info!