KDE 4.10.2 update - kdm and desktop changer issues and how to solve them

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1

As you may have noticed the 4.10.2 update of KDE is out in the repos. If you install them you will notice two bugs.

  1. kdm theme: if you have the kdm theme option activated and used the opensuse one, it will be gone after the update. You will have to choose another kdm theme in system settings of KDE (you need the root password to do so). Unlike before where the kdm-theme setting did not work in KDE, now at least it does, so you easily get to restore your themed KDM.

  2. **desktop changer applet: **confusingly the desktop changer applet of the sidebar is apparently gone. It isn’t only the settings are gone. So probably you will not see the desktop choice any more. If you like me are still using in parallel to activities the change desktop feature, a way to get them back is to place the “change desktop plasmoid” on the desktop, then to right click and go in settings. Choose the numbers of desktops and the numbers of lines. Apply and the desktops will be back also on the sidebar. You can now eliminate the plasmoid on the desktop and everything is like before.

2

Well, at the moment it’s only available for 12.2 64bit, the rest is still building…

Regarding the desktop changer applet:
The applet is hidden if you only have 1 virtual desktop. If I am not mistaken, this already was the case in 4.9.
In 4.10 and 4.10.1 it only got blank, but the hiding was reimplemented for 4.10.2.

You can also change the number of virtual desktops in Configure Desktop (aka systemsettings)->Workspace Behavior->Virtual Desktops.
If you increase it there, the applet should appear again automatically…

But AFAIK the default number of desktops on openSUSE is 2 anyway, so most people should not notice that. :wink:

3

Looks like it’s available now for 12.2 x86_64 and i586. Any idea when it will be available for 12.3? Interesting that it’s available on 12.2 before 12.3. :wink:

4

Yes you can change the system settings, it is a bit hidden but I did find it too. The fact is that if you have the applet running with more than one desktop set, it is reset to 1 and you simply do not see the applet any more. Maybe that is a “diplomatic hint” to finally use activities, but to be honest I still do not see any big advantage in using them. If you can tell me one… In the moment AFAIK the two are simply two ways to do the very same thing.

On the fact of default setting: the default settings are the first thing that I change to adapt to my own preferences. But maybe other users have no preferences but accept always default…but why we do still all these possibilities of personalisation, given that logic we should cement it all like gnome did… :wink:

KDM at least with me did not hold in memory the change of theme. At the end I found out that the only way to do this is: just make sure you change it via Yast - edit sysconfig. That is actually a very interesting thing: I would like to know what this version fixes. It appears that all bugs I am aware of are still proudly there:

  • kwin crashes at logout in two user set-up,
  • kmail has the underlining funktion of the corrector broken (I think since 4.7),
  • the mails sometimes are not readable or do not open (I have to recheck this),
  • the preferences for encryption are not retained (since a long long time).
  • the icon of network manager does not indicate correctly the status of the vpn (that is a new feature),
  • kactivity manager crashes too, randomly, as before.
  • The eYaSP does still not switch user.

So I will be happy if somebody tells me what actually was fixed. I am sure there where fixes, no? Or are there new features? And that is not a polemic but an honest question. Oh, one fix I did find. The birthdaylist plasmoid now does recall the format and size settings after a reboot. Well, a progress. It is nice and usable now.

5

https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced&bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=VERIFIED&bug_status=CLOSED&bugidtype=include&chfieldfrom=2013-01-01&chfieldto=Now&chfield=cf_versionfixedin&chfieldvalue=4.10.2&order=Bug%20Number&list_id=575978

6

Oh, thanks, I did find it lately when I went on KDE.org.

P.S. And I thought I am having “problems” with the bugs I encounter: 316086 – Kget 4.10 deletes home … sure if you read this. Happy not to have encountered this one. And happy to know it has been fixed. :open_mouth:
Serious question two:
is it better to report KDE bugs generally to KDE instead to bugzilla.novell? What is better (more efficient for the project)?

7

You can check the status here (on the right side):
https://build.opensuse.org/project/show?project=KDE%3ARelease%3A410

Well, AFAIUI 12.2 still has a higher priority on the build service because the packages have been downloaded more often. But that will change over time…

That would be a bug then…
I haven’t tried it myself yet, as I am on 12.3.
But I’m already desperately waiting for a few of those bugfixes…

Maybe that is a “diplomatic hint” to finally use activities, but to be honest I still do not see any big advantage in using them. If you can tell me one… In the moment AFAIK the two are simply two ways to do the very same thing.

I don’t really use activities myself.
But they are not a replacement for virtual desktops, they are a complement. The main difference is that you can associate files, programs and plasmoids with activities and they then only show in these activities so you can quickly switch between them. (Well, I guess there’s a better explanation somewhere at kde.org… ;))

On the fact of default setting: the default settings are the first thing that I change to adapt to my own preferences. But maybe other users have no preferences but accept always default…but why we do still all these possibilities of personalisation, given that logic we should cement it all like gnome did… :wink:

I didn’t want to imply that users shouldn’t change the defaults. I also like to have a lot of configuration options to play with. That’s why we use KDE I guess. :wink:
What I wanted to say is, I think most users will have more than 1 desktop (although that’s KDE’s default), so they won’t have the desktop changer disappear. (unless there is a bug, of course lol!)

is it better to report KDE bugs generally to KDE instead to bugzilla.novell? What is better (more efficient for the project)?

General KDE bugs should be reported at bugs.kde.org, bugs caused by openSUSE customizations should be reported at bugzilla.novell.com. If you’re not sure, just pick one. They will tell you if you’re on the wrong one…

At the end I found out that the only way to do this is: just make sure you change it via Yast - edit sysconfig.

It behaves like that since years… This is a deliberate change by openSUSE.
There’s also a bug report about that:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=267903

8

Cool, thanks, didn’t know about that status page. Is the scheduled build time listed for the ones that say “scheduled”?

9

No.
“scheduled” just means, the package is ready to be built (i.e. there are no unresolved dependencies for example).
It depends on OBS’s workload…

I don’t know all the criterias after which the scheduler picks the next package to build, but one is how “popular” the repository is. (more downloads => higher priority)

10

Oh, thanks for that link about the KDM, that is quite amazing. I will follow that up because I am curious particularly to know why it was chosen that way. BTW maybe it is similar to the “bug” that does not allow out of the box sand-boxing](http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-bugs/2012-09/msg00939.html) in Chromium (with secure local file settings). One says: well that is unsafe then. But the argument about that one is, that they want to hold the numbers of applications requiring SUID low to hold the attack surface small. Now one argues that this makes the surface bigger…but discovers bugs in Chromium that allow to get out of the sandbox and freely play … so at the end both arguments are … conclusive. So maybe this is an issue like it, but sometimes (as with “eating carrots is good for your night sight” there are some April fools around for 40 years… and nobody notices any more. So it will be nice to follow this one. And thank you for the status page. Very interesting in deed. Kudos!

11

And I found out that at least two bugs seam fixed now. Encrypted and signed email is now again visible correctly and the underlining function of the orthographic corrector works also (after the second login, strange but O.K. why not). So some things at least have been fixed for who is using kmail.

12

Looks like 4.10.2 is now available on i586 for sure and possibly for x86_64 on openSUSE 12.3. There were two missing dependencies, I had to remove two openSUSE branding packages, one for KDM and the other for something in the KDE desktop. Sorry I don’t have the exact names, I’m currently downloading the update.

13

Yes, the branding packages failed to build on 12.3, but that has been fixed in the meantime.

And x86_64 is not ready yet… still 5 packages to build…
OBS really is overloaded the last few days…:sarcastic:

14

I’m sorry, what/where is the fix for the branding packages?

15

The build failed, but they should be in the repo by now…

But it seems, there are 2 versions in the repo now, the new ones and the old ones (with a higher revision number).
So maybe you have to select the new packages manually (in Yast use the “Versions” tab).
The new ones have revision 2.1, so you have to install f.e. kdm-branding-openSUSE-12.3-2.1 (the other one you were missing would be kdelibs4-branding-openSUSE-12.3-2.1 I guess)

16

sorry you called both 12.3-2.1, so, which are the ones to install??? :slight_smile:

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No I did not. I called them kdm-branding-openSUSE-12.3-2.1 and kdelibs4-branding-openSUSE-12.3-2.1 (notice the difference? kdm vs kdelibs4 ;))

All of the branding packages have the same version number… (they are built together)

Oh, if that was your question:
kdm-branding-openSUSE-12.3-185.1 (and so on) is the old package that would cause a conflict in yast…

18

Finally, also the packages for 12.3 64bit are finished and available in the repositories!
Also, the old branding-packages are removed. I guess this was a temporary problem caused by the overload of the buildservice…

Well, too bad I have to wait till sunday now to install it! :’(
(I’m away from my linux system for the weekend…)

19

@wolfi
Thanks for coming over here and giving your knowledge
Updating 12.3 OS now, I had to accept a upstream branding for the workspace, but that’s not unusual, easy to sort that once the openSUSE branding makes it there.

20

To be precise
kdebase4-workspace-branding-upstream