Send your talks to Akademy 2025! (Now really for real)

We have moved the deadline for talk submission for Akademy 2025 to the end of the month. Submit your talks now! 

https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-community/2025q2/008217.html 

https://akademy.kde.org/2025/cfp/

Qt World Summit 2025

These past two days I attended the Qt World Summit 2025

It happened in Munich in the SHOWPALAST MÜNCHEN. The venue is HUGE,  we had around 800 attendees (unofficial sources, don't trust the number too much) and it felt it could hold more. One slightly unfortunate thing is that it was a bit cold (temperatures in Munich these two days were well below the average for May) and quite some parts of the venue are outdoors, but you can't control the weather, so not much to "fix" here.

 

The venue is somewhat strangely focused on horses, but that's nothing more than an interesting quirk.

Qt World Summit is an event for the Qt developers around the world and the talks range from showcases of Qt in different products, to technical talks about how to improve performance along others less Qt centric talks about how to collaborate with other developers or about "modern C++".

As KDE we participated in the event with a stand trying to explain people what we do (David Redondo and Nicolas Fella were more in the stand than me, kudos to them)

For following years we may need to re-think a bit better our story for this event since I feel that "we do a Linux desktop and Free Software applications using Qt" is not really what Qt developers really care about, we maybe should focus more on "You can learn Qt in KDE, join us!" and "We have lots Free [Software] Qt libraries you can use!".

 

Talks for the videos will be published "soon" (or so I've been told). When that happens the ones I recommend you to watch are "Navigating Code Collaboration" by  LAURA SAVINO, "QML Bindings in Qt6" by ULF HERMANN and "C++ as a 21st Century Language" by BJARNE STROUSTRUP, but the agenda was packed with talks so make sure to check the videos since probably your tastes and mine don't 100% align.

 

All in all it was a great event, it is good to see that Qt is doing well since we use it for the base of almost everything we do in KDE. Thanks to The Qt Company and the rest of the sponsors for organizing it. 

 

 

KDE Gear 25.04 branches created

Make sure you commit anything you want to end up in the KDE Gear 25.04
releases to them

Next Dates  
    March 13 2025: 25.04 Freeze and Beta (25.03.80) tag & release
    March 27, 2025: 25.04 RC (25.03.90) Tagging and Release
    April 10, 2025: 25.04 Tagging
    April 17, 2025: 25.04 Release

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_25.04_Schedule

KDE Gear 25.04 release schedule

This is the release schedule the release team agreed on

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_25.04_Schedule

Dependency freeze is in around 3 weeks (March 6) and feature freeze one
after that. Get your stuff ready!
 

KDE Gear 24.12 branches created

Make sure you commit anything you want to end up in the KDE Gear 24.12
releases to them

Next Dates:

•   November 14, 2024: 24.12 freeze and beta (24.11.80) tagging and release
•   November 28, 2024: 24.12 RC (24.11.90) tagging and release
•   December  5, 2024: 24.12 tagging
•   December 12, 2024: 24.12 release

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_24.12_Schedule

KDE Gear 24.12 release schedule

This is the release schedule the release team agreed on

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_24.12_Schedule

Dependency freeze is in around 3 weeks (November 7) and feature freeze one
after that. Get your stuff ready!

Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit 2024

This weekend "The KDE Alberts"[1] attended Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit 2024 in Sunnyvale, California.

The Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit is an annual unconference that every project participating in Google Summer of Code 2024 is invited to attend. This year it was the 20th year celebration of the program!

I was too late to take a picture of the full cake!

We attended many sessions ranging from how to try to avoid falling into the "xz problem" to collecting donations or shaping the governance of open source projects.

 

We met lots of people that knew what KDE was and were happy to congratulate us on the job done and also a few that did not know KDE and were happy to learn about what we do.

 

We also did a quick lightning talk about the GSOC projects KDE mentored this year and led two sessions: one centered around the problems some open source application developers are having publishing to the Google Play Store and another session about Desktop Linux together with our Gnome friends.

 

All in all a very productive unconference. We encourage KDE mentors to take the opportunity to attend the Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit next year, it's a great experience! 

 

[1] me and Albert Vaca, people were moderately amused that both of us had the same name, contribute to the same community and are from the same city.

Disable the Plasma Morphing Popups effect (at least on X11)

If you're using Plasma/KWin 6 i suggest you disable the Morphing Popups effect, it has been removed for Plasma 6.2 https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/commit/d6360cc4ce4e0d85862a4bb077b8b3dc55cd74a7 and on X11 at least it causes severe redraw issues with tooltips in Okular (and i would guess elsewhere).

KDE Gear 24.08 branches created

Make sure you commit anything you want to end up in the KDE Gear 24.08
releases to them

Next Dates  

• July 25, 2024: 24.08 Freeze and Beta (24.07.80) tag & release
• August  8, 2024: 24.08 RC (24.07.90) Tagging and Release
• August 15, 2024: 24.08 Tagging
• August 22, 2024: 24.08 Release

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_24.08_Schedule

KDE Gear 24.08 release schedule

 

This is the release schedule the release team agreed on

  https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_24.08_Schedule

Dependency freeze is in around 4 weeks (July 18) and feature freeze one
after that. Get your stuff ready!
 

Help wanted! Port KDE Frameworks oss-fuzz builds to Qt6/KF6

If you're looking for an isolated and straightforward way to start contributing to KDE, you're in the right place. At KDE, we use fuzzing via oss-fuzz to try to ensure our libraries are robust against broken inputs. Here's how you can help us in this essential task.

What is Fuzzing?

Fuzzing involves feeding "random" [1] data into our code to check its robustness against invalid or unexpected inputs. This is crucial for ensuring the security and stability of applications that process data without direct user control.

Why is Fuzzing Important?

Imagine receiving an image via email, saving it to your disk, and opening it in Dolphin. This will make Dolphin create a thumbnail of the image. If the image is corrupted and our image plugin code isn't robust, the best-case scenario is that Dolphin crashes. In the worst case, it could lead to a security breach. Hence, fuzzing helps prevent such vulnerabilities.

How You Can Help:

We need to update the build of KDE libraries in oss-fuzz to use Qt6. This task could be challenging because it involves static compilation and ensuring the correct flags are passed for all compilation units.

Steps to Contribute:

1. Start with karchive Project
   

   • Download oss-fuzz and go into the karchive subfolder.
   • Update the Dockerfile to download Qt from the dev branch and KDE Frameworks from the master branch.

2. Update build.sh Script:

   • Modify the build.sh script to compile Qt6 (this will be harder since it involves moving from qmake to cmake) and KDE Frameworks 6.

3. Check karchive_fuzzer.cc:

   • This file might need updates, but they should be relatively easy.
   • At the top of karchive_fuzzer.cc, you'll find a comment with the three commands that oss-fuzz runs. Use these to test the image building, fuzzer building, and running processes.

Need Help?

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact me at aacid@kde.org or ping me on Matrix at @tsdgeos:kde.org

Note:

[1] Smart fuzzing engines don't generate purely random data. They use semi-random and semi-smart techniques to efficiently find issues in the code.

KDE Goals April 2024 sprint

A few weeks ago I attended the KDE Goals April 2024 sprint

I was there as part of the Automation & Systematization sprint given my involvement in the release process, the "not very automatized" weekly emails about the status of CI about KDE Gear and KDE Frameworks, etc. but I think that maybe I was there more as "person that has been around a long time, ask me if you have questions about things that are documented through oral tradition"

I didn't end up doing lots of work on sprint topics themselves (though I participated in various discussions, did a bit of pair-programming with Aleix on QML accessibility issues, inspired DavidR to do the QML-text-missing-i18n check that he describes in his blog); instead I cheated a bit and used the sprint to focus on some of the KDE stuff I had a bit on my backlog, creating the KDE Gear release/24.05 branches and lots of MR reviewing and more!

Thanks KDE e.V. for sponsoring the trip, if you would like such events to continue please we need your continued donations

And remember Akademy talk submission period ends in 10 days, send your talk now!

Send your talks for Akademy NOW!

Akademy 2024 (the annual world summit for KDE) is happening in Würzburg, Saturday 7th – Thursday 12th September. (I hope you knew that)

First of all, if you're reading this and thinking, "Should i go to Akademy?" 

The answer is [most probably] YES! Akademy has something for everyone, be it coders, translators, promoters, designers, enthusiasts, etc.

Now, with this out of the way, one of the many things that makes Akademy is the talks on the weekend, and you know who has something to say? *YOU*

Yes, *YOU*. I'm sure you've been working on something interesting, or have a great idea to share.

*YOU* may think that your idea is not that great or the things you work on are not interesting, but that's seldomly the case when someone explains me their "boring" thing they've been working on, i always think "Wow that's great".

Ok, so now that I've convinced you to send a talk proposal, when better than *TODAY* to send it?

Yes I know the Call for Participation is open until the 24 of May, but by sending it today you make sure you don't forget sending it later and also [more important for me] you help those of us in the Program Committee not to worry when the final date starts approaching and we don't have lots of talks yet because you all prefer sending talks on the very last minute.

So stop reading and send your talk today ;-)

KDE Gear 24.05 branches created

Make sure you commit anything you want to end up in the KDE Gear 24.05
releases to them

Next Dates

• April 25 2024: 24.05 Freeze and Beta (24.04.80) tag & release
• May 9, 2024: 24.05 RC (24.04.90) Tagging and Release
• May 16, 2024: 24.05 Tagging
• May 23, 2024: 24.05 Release

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_24.05_Schedule

Plucker/Palm support removed from Okular for 24.05

We recently remove the Plucker/Palm support in Okular, because it was unmaintained and we didn't even find [m]any suitable file to test it.

If you are using it, you have a few months to step up and bring it back, if not, let's have it rest.

KDE Gear 24.02 branches created

Make sure you commit anything you want to end up in the KDE Gear 24.02 releases to them

Next Dates:

•    January 31: 24.02 RC 2 (24.01.95) Tagging and Release
•   February 21: 24.02 Tagging
•   February 28: 24.02 Release

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/February_2024_MegaRelease

Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit 2023

This past weekend I attended the Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit 2023 as part of the KDE delegation.

 

 

I have been a mentor for GSOC almost every year since 2005 but this was my first time attending the mentor summit.

 

There were sessions about the typical things you'd expect: how to get more diverse folks as students, how to make sure we onboard them correctly, sustainability, funding, etc. All in all nothing groundbreaking and sadly no genius solution for the issues we face was given, but to a certain degree it helps to see that most of us have similar problems and it's not that we're doing things particularly wrong, it's just that running a Free Software project is though.

Carl Schwan and me ran a Desktop Linux session together with Jonathan Blandford of GNOME (check his Crosswords game, seems pretty nice) and basically asked folks "How happy are you with the Desktop Linux", you can find the notes about it at https://collaborate.kde.org/s/HKn6BoNCRNezn3K Nothing we don't know about really, Wayland and flatpak/snap are still a bit painful for some folks even if there's a general agreement they are good ideas.

I also organized a little session for all the attendees from Barcelona (it was about 6 of us or so) to sell them talk about Barcelona Free Software

One thing that always pops up in your mind when going to events is "How useful was it for me to attend this" since traveling to California from Europe is not easy, it is not cheap and it means investing quite some time (which in my case included taking vacation from work). 

 

Honestly, I think it's quite useful and we should attend more similar events. We get to know key people from other projects and we make sure other projects know about us. One of the most funny interactions was me sitting in a table, someone joining and saying "Woah KDE, you guys are super famous, love your work" and literally seconds after another person joining us and saying "Uh, KDE what is that?"

 

There's not much pictures because Google forbids taking pictures inside their buildings, the few exceptions include the chocolate table, it's quite a large quantity of chocolate we got to try, thanks Robert from Musicbrainz for pushing people to bring it :)

I'd like to thank Google and KDE e.V. for sponsoring my trip to the Summit, please donate at https://kde.org/fundraisers/plasma6member/

KDE February Mega Release schedule (the thing with Qt6 on it)

The next release for the big three in KDE land (KDE Frameworks, KDE Plasma and KDE Gear) is going to happen at the same time.

This is because we are switching to Qt6[*] and it helps if we can release all the products  at the same time.

If you want to help us with the effort, make sure to donate at https://kde.org/fundraisers/plasma6member/

The agreed schedule is:

8 November 2023: Alpha

KDE Gear 24.01.75 / KDE Plasma 5.80.0 / KDE Frameworks 5.245.0

29 November 2023: Beta 1

KDE Gear 24.01.80 / KDE Plasma 5.90.0 / KDE Frameworks 5.246.0

20 December 2023: Beta 2

KDE Gear 24.01.85 / KDE Plasma 5.91.0 / KDE Frameworks 5.247.0

10 January 2024: Release Candidate 1

KDE Gear 24.01.90 / KDE Plasma 5.92.0 / KDE Frameworks 5.248.0

For KDE Gear that want to ship with Qt6 for this release they need to be switched to Qt6 (and obviously stable) *BEFORE* this date.

31 January 2024: Release Candidate 2

KDE Gear 24.01.95 / KDE Plasma 5.93.0 / KDE Frameworks 5.249.0

21 February 2024: Private Tarball Release

KDE Gear 24.02.0 / KDE Plasma 6.0 / KDE Frameworks 6.0

28 February 2024: Public Release

KDE Gear 24.02.0 / KDE Plasma 6.0 / KDE Frameworks 6.0 

 

You can see that Alpha is less than 3 weeks away! Interesting times ahead!

 

[*]  some KDE Gear apps may remain in Qt5 if we have not had time to port them

Am I using qmllint wrong? Or is it still not there?

Today I was doing some experiments with qmllint hoping it would help us make QML code more robust.

I created a very simple test which is basically a single QML file that creates an instance of an object I've created from C++.

But when running qmllint via the all_qmllint  target it tells me

Warning: Main.qml:14:9: No type found for property "model". This may be due to a missing import statement or incomplete qmltypes files. [missing-type]
        model: null
        ^^^^^
Warning: Main.qml:14:16: Cannot assign literal of type null to QAbstractItemModel [incompatible-type]
        model: null
               ^^^^

Which is a relatively confusing error, since it first says that it doesn't know what the model property is, but then says "the model property is an QAbstractItemModel and you can't assign null to it"

Here the full code https://bugreports.qt.io/secure/attachment/146411/untitled1.zip in case you want to fully reproduce but first some samples of what i think it's important

QML FILE

import QtQuick
import QtQuick.Window

import untitled1 // This is the name of my import

Window {
    // things     

    ObjectWithModel {
        model: null
    }
}
 

HEADER FILE (there's nothing interesting in the cpp file)

#pragma once

#include <QtQmlIntegration>
#include <QAbstractItemModel>
#include <QObject>

class ObjectWithModel : public QObject {
    Q_OBJECT
    QML_ELEMENT  
  
    Q_PROPERTY(QAbstractItemModel* model READ model WRITE setModel NOTIFY modelChanged)

public:
    explicit ObjectWithModel(QObject* parent = nullptr);  

    AbstractItemModel* model() const;
    void setModel(QAbstractItemModel* model);

signals:
    void modelChanged();

private:
    QAbstractItemModel* mModel  = nullptr;
};

CMAKE FILE

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
project(untitled1 VERSION 0.1 LANGUAGES CXX)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
find_package(Qt6 6.4 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Quick)
qt_standard_project_setup()

qt_add_executable(appuntitled1 main.cpp)

qt_add_qml_module(appuntitled1
    URI untitled1 VERSION 1.0
    QML_FILES Main.qml
    SOURCES ObjectWithModel.h ObjectWithModel.cpp
)

target_link_libraries(appuntitled1 PRIVATE Qt6::Quick)  

As you can see it's quite simple and, as far as I know, using the recommended way of setting up a QML module when using a standalone app.

 

But maybe I am holding it wrong?

KDE Gear 23.08 branches created

Make sure you commit anything you want to end up in the KDE Gear 23.08 releases to them

Dependency freeze is next July 20

The Feature Freeze and Beta is Thursday 27 of July.

More interesting dates  
  August 10: 23.08 RC (23.07.90) Tagging and Release
  August 17: 23.08 Tagging
  August 24: 23.08 Release

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/KDE_Gear_23.08_Schedule