KDE 4.3 vs KDEmod 4.3 (What is modularization)

Question

Hi,
Ok first a newbie question. Have I understood correctly when I say that KDEmod is essentially a "modularized" version of KDE? If so what does "modularization" mean exactly? Does it mean that instead of installing everything KDE has to offer I can chose to keep things small and only add the "modules" I want and need?
Secondly I've heard that KDE 4.3 is going to be modularized. Is this correct? Won't this make KDEmod slightly redundant (except for tweeking for chakra live-cd)? Once KDE 4.3 is released should I remove KDEmod and just install KDE? Or should I just upgrade my current KDEmod?
BFC

Answer 1

Allan wrote:I could see this becoming the flame fest it is well on its way to becoming...  especially given this thread is already linked on the Chakra forums.  And there was at least one thread about this previous on their forums.
I have just seen it. Depending on how this thread develops, i will close it.
And about the opinions in our forums: We also seem to have some missing consensus, every of of our devs has a different opinion about certain things, so we need some more clearance on this topic too.
Allan wrote:Also, I know exactly what the libjpeg7 rebuild took to achieve given I took the lead in doing it.  The fact that KDEmod took a couple of days to catch up is perfectly understandable. It was a lot of work and there has been no attempt at synchronisation that I know of, so this was always going to happen unless the KDEmod guys were sitting waiting for the move to happen.
We always know whats going on in the Arch repos Its just that we are "normal people" and not some uber-devs, and sometimes we just have some time issues, like me currently changing my job and moving to another city and so forth. This is something users seem to forget from time to time. The only solution would be paying us, and i doubt that this would be sucessful All in all, whenever something like the libjpeg "situation" happens: Just calm down, drink a tea or something and wait for the update. Its not like that we are not keeping our stuff together.
Oh, and dont forget: Arch ist _the_ fastest distro out there when it comes to updates, sometimes its lightyears ahead of the "competition", so just enjoy the luxury and dont panic when its taking a bit more time sometimes
Allan wrote:Arch is splitting the KDE packages up with the KDE-4.3 release. This has previously only been available from KDEmod, so it is obvious that the KDEmod guys will see some "competition" here.
Well, i dont see much competition here, because we have completely different goals. However, there are some things that shocked me a bit, but more down below.
Allan wrote:So there is obviously some overlap between the groups.  Is there still a "need" for KDEmod. Well, yes. The Chakra guys need to customise their packages for their distro as they are aiming for something quite different than Arch.
Yes, thats the main reason. We just cannot provide the level of integration we want with the Arch packages, in our opinion a "desktop" LiveCD should feel like a desktop and we have very high standards regarding this integration. That starts with unofficial bugfixes for well-known KDE bugs and ends with our own patches for a "proper" default desktop, and of course our unofficial feature patches that we are doing for the fun of it.
Allan wrote:The question that needs asked is whether the KDEmod guys now need to maintain a whole KDE-4.x release or base it on the Arch packages some more.  We know they have much more experience in package splitting than the two Arch devs who maintain KDE.  As funkyou pointed out above, there may have been some unnecessary splitting that occurred and he has indicated elsewhere that the KDEmod guys have solved problems in the Arch packages.
Another question is: Why got the split KDE packages in Arch built completely from scratch when there is already a project that does the same since a long time? Could have been easier by just asking us for some support or ideas. I guess i can port the Arch KDE PKGUILDs to our buildsystem (and the other way around) in less than 5 minutes, thats what i call doubled work.
Oh, and i know that i can be somewhat "in-your-face" from time to time, thats why people either love or hate me. But all in all, no one from our team bites, we are just a bunch of guys who love working on KDE, and we are always happy to help or answer questions.
Also, what really shocked me was the fact that, beside not asking us, maintainers of much smaller repos that were there for just some months were asked to "join efforts and work on one set of packages". I dont know how i should name that, ignorance or ego? (Just being open here, no flame intended).
Allan wrote:So maybe more collaboration would be good here.
My dream: All major KDE repos on Arch work together, to solve problems etc while keeping their uniqueness. We have KDE in extra, we have Markc's daily builds and we have Chakra/KDEmod and so forth. And everyone can learn something from the other projects. Maybe something like an "Arch KDE strike force" could be an idea. Since i am using this distro, all others are just plain boring because Arch has the power and it just misses a bit of organization to be the perfect distro when it comes to the desktop. Maybe we can start that with a shared IRC channel, like #arch-KDE or something.
wonder wrote:i didn't wanted to offend the project, is just that i'm more excited about kde-unstable than the kdemod. maybe because  i'm waited splitted kde from the time was announced on ml until now. this made me think about switching to kde and i didn't wanted to switch before because i don't like to mixed packages with unsupported repository. and libjpeg7 issues was a lot and if you search on bugtracker a lot of false reports was submited.
again. i'm sorry if i offend but this are my reason about the previous post.
No problem. But maybe you should change your mind a little bit, "external project" doesnt mean its completely unsupported. I dont know how people get this idea, especially when you consider for how long we are doing it now.