KDE3 - KDE SC 4 Migration
From Mandriva Community Wiki
Contents |
Introduction
As Mandriva Linux moves forward to KDE 4 and beyond, the migration from KDE 3 to KDE 4 brings up many questions and concerns. Hopefully this section will address these issues. See also Is KDE 4.2 for you ?
Backup your KDE 3 settings ( optional )
You may want to backup your KDE 3 settings just in case. Please note that kmail store its emails in ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail, so you may end up with a big ~/.kde. The best way o backup your KDE 3 settings is to use the tar command as follow :
tar -zcvf kde3-backup.tar.gz ~/.kde
Make KDE 4 use KDE 3 configuration directory
KDE 3 was using ~/.kde to store KDE configurations whereas KDE 4 use ~/.kde4. So one way to migrate your KDE 3 settings in KDE 4 is to make KDE 4 use your old KDE 3 settings directory. You can use one the following method to make KDE4 use your olds KDE 3 settings.
symlink ~/.kde4 to ~/.kde
This method supposed that you don't have started KDE 4 yet, or else you will have to remove the ~/.kde4 directory. To create the symlink proceed as this :
ln -s ~/.kde ~/.kde4
rename ~/.kde to ~/.kde4
With this method, we are going to renamed the ~/.kde directory to ~/.kde4 as follow :
mv ~/.kde ~/.kde4
Migrate your KDE3 settings with KDE3TO4
KDE3TO4 is a wizard implemented as a set of modular bash scripts to help users migrating from KDE3 to KDE4 by easily migrating settings for various applications from their old KDE3 settings directory to their new KDE4 settings directory. Before using this program, users will have to rename their KDE 3 directory settings to ~/.kde3 : mv ~/.kde ~/.kde3
Then follow the instructions contains in the archive of the program. The archive can be download on the following site : http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php/KDE3TO4?content=85769
FAQ
What about KDE 3 applications ?
KDE 3 desktop is no longer maintained. Mosts applications should have now a KDE 4 equivalents. Some applications like K3B as of KDE 4.2 still don't have a stable KDE 4 port. Mandriva is working hard to help porting the remaining applications. However if really you need to use an old KDE3 application, you may try to install the task-kde3 metapackage which will provide the essentials libraries needed for most KDE3 based applications.
Will my KDE3 settings work in KDE4 ?
Most of your settings, preferences, and configurations fill carry over to KDE4. The exception to that will be various desktop-related settings as this is completely different in KDE4. This includes things such as desktop wallpaper and panel settings.
KDE 4 is not "feature complete"; I am missing the _x_ configuration/customisation Option
KDE 4 is becoming more and more a fully functional and usable desktop. However it does not yet have all the customization and configuration options KDE 3 took many years to develop. Each new KDE 4 provides new features and presently KDE 4 provides some features which have been never provided by KDE 3.
