KDE Platform 4

KDE Platform 4
Original author(s)	KDE
Developer(s)	KDE
Initial release	11 January 2008; 16 years ago
Final release	4.14.12 (September 15, 2015; 9 years ago) [±]
Repository	anongit.kde.org/kdelibs.git ;
Written in	C++
Type	System libraries; Software frameworks;
License	GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

KDE Platform 4 was a collection of libraries and software frameworks by KDE that served as technological foundation for KDE Software Compilation 4 distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). KDE Platform 4 was the successor to KDElibs and the predecessor of KDE Frameworks. KDE Platform 4 is the only version of KDE Platform, and in 2013 it was replaced by KDE Frameworks 5.

Technologies

User Interface
- Plasma – desktop and panel widget engine
- KHTML – HTML rendering engine
- KIO – extensible network-transparent file access
- KParts – lightweight in-process graphical component framework
- Sonnet – spell checker
- XMLGUI – allows defining UI elements such as menus and toolbars via XML files
- Goya
Hardware and Multimedia
- Phonon – multimedia framework
- Solid – device integration framework
Services
- NEPOMUK
- KNewStuff – KDE's "Hot New Stuff" classes
- Policykit-KDE
Communication
- Akonadi
Games
- Gluon
- KGGZ
Other
- ThreadWeaver – library to use multiprocessor systems more effectively
- Kiosk – allows disabling features within KDE to create a more controlled environment
- Kross
- KConfig XT
- WebDAV

Technologies superseded in KDE Platform 4

aRts – sound server (replaced with Phonon)
DCOP – inter-process communication system (replaced with D-Bus)

KParts

KParts is the component framework for the KDE Plasma desktop environment. An individual component is called a KPart. KParts are analogous to Bonobo components in GNOME and ActiveX controls in Microsoft's Component Object Model. Konsole is available as a KPart and is used in applications like Konqueror and Kate.

Example uses of KParts:

Konqueror uses the Okular part to display documents
Konqueror uses the Dragon Player part to play multimedia
Kontact embeds kdepim applications
Kate and other editors use the katepart editor component
Several applications use the Konsole KPart to embed a terminal

Solid

Solid is a device integration framework for KDE Platform 4 and its successor, KDE Frameworks. It functions on similar principles to KDE's multimedia pillar Phonon; rather than managing hardware on its own, it makes existing solutions accessible through a single API. The current solution uses udev, NetworkManager and BlueZ (the official Linux Bluetooth stack). However, any and all parts can be replaced without breaking the application, making applications using Solid extremely flexible and portable.^[5]^[6] Work is underway to build a Solid backend for the Windows port of KDE based on Windows Management Instrumentation.^[7]

References

^ "KDE 4.0 Release Announcement". 11 January 2008.
^ "KDE Ships KDE Applications 15.08.1". KDE. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
^ "The KDE development platform". Retrieved 2010-11-26.
^ "Development/Languages". Retrieved 2010-12-04.
^ K Desktop Environment - KDE 4.0 Released
^ "UPower, UDev and UDisks Support, Metadata Backup". Archived from the original on 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
^ "KDE Commit Digest issue 107". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2010-10-16.

External links

TechBase, documentation for KDE developers
KDE Projects, overview of all projects within git.kde.org
KDE quick Git source code browser Archived 2016-11-15 at the Wayback Machine
KDE Bug Tracking System
KDE tutorial first program

[4.0ann-1] "KDE 4.0 Release Announcement". 11 January 2008.

[2] "KDE Ships KDE Applications 15.08.1". KDE. 15 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.

[3] "The KDE development platform". Retrieved 2010-11-26.

[4] "Development/Languages". Retrieved 2010-12-04.

[5] K Desktop Environment - KDE 4.0 Released

[6] "UPower, UDev and UDisks Support, Metadata Backup". Archived from the original on 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2011-07-28.

[7] "KDE Commit Digest issue 107". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2010-10-16.

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