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This rule is related to post content. Unrelated content is considered spam. Blog posts that simply link to the original source are considered spam. Blog posts containing the same content as an original source are considered spam. Blog posts that reference an original source but provide original content are not considered spam.

No blog spam

This rule is related to post frequency. Original content is allowed. Official news are always allowed. Basically, don't overpost for personal gain or similar purposes.

No screenshot of your desktop, use the Monthly Screenshot Thread instead

Showcasing your desktop is generally not allowed. Showcasing original content is always allowed (new functionality, your contributions, mockups, design issues, game records, visual representation of original textual content, etc.)

No comparison between desktop environments and/or distros

Posts comparing various desktop environments, and/or distros, or disparaging other Free Software projects are not authorized on r/kde. This subreddit is about the KDE community and not about pointless and unproductive flamewars between open source projects.

No misinformation

The spreading of misinformation and/or debunked conspiracy theories, such as climate change denialism, antivaxism, holocaust denialism, flat earthism, etc., will result in a deletion of the posts or comments and a permanent ban from r/kde.

No linking to Twitter/X from posts or comments

Comments or posts linking to Twitter/X will be removed. The poster will be informed and asked to provide an alternative source or a screenshot. Repeat offenders will be banned.

No memes, image macros, rage comics, overdone jokes

No images or trite tropes. Repeat offender will be banned.

KDE Websites

Screenshots

Distros

r/Kubuntu

22,328 members

r/kdeneon

7,831 members

r/openSUSE

51,032 members

r/FerenOS

551 members

r/Mageia

770 members

r/SolusProject

12,440 members

r/RockyLinux

11,456 members

r/AlmaLinux

8,729 members

r/Bazzite

52,423 members

r/cachyos

73,095 members

User Flairs

To change your user flairs, click on Community Options on the About Community sidebar. You can choose between 62 flairs showcasing your system.

To get a KDE Contributor flair that discloses your involvement within the KDE community, send a message to the mods. You can choose between 12 flairs with different icons showcasing your favorite project or distro.

Click here for more information about flairs.

The contributor flairs available are shown below:

Contributor Flairs

Search for KDE content

Want to contribute to KDE?

For starters:

The best way to start contributing is to contact the community over Matrix or IRC
At first sight, it might seem a bit hard to interact in those groups. That's okay! Join them first, see how things are done, mention your interest and where you'd like to work with. We may even find a mentor for you!
The KDE Community develops and distributes open source software. As such, we follow a sort of do-ocracy wherein tasks are done and assigned by contributors themselves. Feel free to pick an area and just start contributing immediately! We're always here to help you along the way. A good way to contribute with code for the first time is to fix an unfixed bug that afflicts you or assign yourself to junior jobs and start working on them.
It's always nice to collaborate optimally with others in any given setting, but this is especially important for community projects like those following the open source model, so remember to read the KDE Code of Conduct.

Here are a few links to help you in your first contributions to KDE:

Get started learning QML/QtQuick:

QML is a JS-like declarative language that can be executed at runtime and is used in Plasma widgets for instance. It is also used in conjunction to C++ to create user interfaces easily. It is part of QtQuick and it's suitable for both desktop and mobile applications. KDE's convergent framework, Kirigami, part of KDE Frameworks, is built on top of QML/QtQuick. Mauikit is built on top of Kirigami. If you're used to languages like JavaScript, Python or CSS, you might want to try QML/QtQuick/Kirigami.

Get started learning C++/QtWidgets:

C++ is a C-like compiled language that follows object-oriented programming. It is used for QtWidgets projects whose main goal are desktop applications, but it can serve as the backend in QML/QtQuick projects. KDE's QtWidgets-based framework, KXmlGui, can also be used to create projects with C++ and QML/QtQuick with the help of KDeclarative and Kirigami. If you're used to languages like C, C#, Java and Rust, you might want to try C++/QtWidgets/KXmlGui.

MOOCs

And other languages too!

PySide includes Qt-endorsed bindings for Python to develop Qt apps.
PyQt includes Riverbank-endorsed bindings for Python to develop Qt apps.
KDE Rust wiki includes KDE projects using Rust as well as notes and resources to learn.
QtJambi includes bindings for Java to develop Qt apps.
NodeGui includes bindings for NodeJS to develop Qt apps.
Full list of language bindings for Qt.

Are you on NVIDIA?

If you're experiencing issues with NVIDIA on Plasma, try the following:

If experiencing screen tearing, set ForceCompositionPipeline
If experiencing performance issues, set XRender as render backend
If you want to try the Wayland session, follow these instructions.

Want to test Plasma Wayland?

There are a few things to take note:

Here is a list of Wayland showstoppers to keep track of
Here are three lists of Wayland software: awesome-wayland, arewewaylandyet, sway addons (some might work on Plasma)
Use OBS Studio or Kooha to record the desktop, ensure you're using at least pipewire 0.3, have xdg-desktop-portal-kde installed, and check if the systemd services pipewire and pipewire-media-session or wireplumber are running.
If OBS doesn't work well for you, you can still record the screen with ffmpeg's kmsgrab as a last resource: sudo ffmpeg -device /dev/dri/card0 -f kmsgrab -i - -filter:v 'hwmap=derive_device=vaapi,scale_vaapi=w=1920:h=1080:format=nv12' -codec:v h264_vaapi recording.mkv
There's basic graphics tablet support via libinput and a KCM starting with Plasma 5.24
If you want to test the most up-to-date Plasma Wayland and help us improve it, two convenient solutions are KDE neon and openSUSE Argon/Krypton
If you are testing the Plasma Wayland session and have an NVIDIA card, the process for that is a bit different
KWin Wayland crashes require a few additional steps to report
If you are testing the Plasma Wayland session and have an Intel/AMD card, note the following environment variables:

=> Globally, you can tell Qt apps to run on Wayland and only XWayland if not possible

QT_QPA_PLATFORM="wayland,xcb"

=> To force a Qt/KDE application to run on XWayland if you experience issues, run

QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb

=> Electron apps can be run natively on Wayland with:

--enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland.

=> If you have trouble running SDL games on Wayland, force them to run on XWayland with:

SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11

=> You can set environment variables for each Steam game with Launch Options like so:

YOUR_ENV_VAR_HERE %command% --your-flag-here

=> Some game engines have experimental Wayland support, like Unity, which has

%command% -force-wayland

=> If window management for games is wonky, toggling fullscreen or maximized state should resize window properly to the screen. If e.g. some Unity games render a black screen, start them with fullscreen disabled

%command% -screen-fullscreen 0

General FAQ

I'm confused. Where do I report issues? Phabricator, Invent, Bugzilla?

Currently, only Bugzilla. It's easier than you might think, for instance, filing a bug to Dolphin: Visit website > Create account > File a bug > Dolphin > General. Don't worry that much about where your bug report should go: bug triagers will move it to the correct place. :)

What about widgets? They don't look like standalone programs and I don't know their name!

Default widgets should be reported under the product Plasmashell. Third-party widgets should be reported to their respective devs.

I have no idea how to report crashes!

See how to create useful crash reports, how to debug Plasmashell and widgets, and how to debug KWin. You will need to install debug symbols, depending on your distro you might already have them enabled (e.g. openSUSE), you might have to perform additional steps to enable them (e.g. Kubuntu). After that, creating a full backtrace is just a matter of attaching GDB to a process and waiting for it to crash:

gdb -pid $(pidof NAMEOFPROCESS) -batch -ex "set logging file APPLICATIONNAME.txt" -ex "set logging on" -ex "continue" -ex "thread apply all backtrace" -ex "quit"

Where can I contribute with patches?

After the move to Gitlab, we stopped using Phabricator for sending patches entirely. The cgit web interface was also removed. The Github repository is simply a mirror of our git repositories. Please send patches over Invent.

I can't run Dolphin as root!

Wait for privilege escalation via PolicyKit in KIO to land soon™. Otherwise, use openSUSE's hack: dbus-launch dolphin -qwindowtitle "%c" "%u" in your launcher.

After removing the menu and adding it again, I can no longer open it with the Meta/Super/Windows key.

Right click the menu and configure its keyboard shortcut to Alt+F1.

I'm experiencing issues with baloo.

Baloo is the backend used for searches, tags and other Plasma integration features. If you're experiencing issues, please report them over bugs.kde.org before attempting a workaround or disabling it. See the baloo wiki page before testing and reporting issues.

I can't open the menu after installing Latte Dock/after going back to using Plasma panels!

Here's how to fix it.

Dolphin looks weird in GNOME or through ssh X forwarding/waypipe!

To make Dolphin look good in GNOME, use QGnomePlatform. If unavailable in your distro, install qt5ct and set QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct.

To make Dolphin look good with ssh X forwarding or Waypipe on a Plasma session, you need to set DESKTOP_SESSION=kde. If you don't want to add this to your ssh command every time, set it in ~/.ssh/environment.

After updating my Plasma from git installation (KDE neon Unstable/openSUSE Krypton/Arch KDE Unstable) my system has suddenly gotten several issues despite new users not suffering from them!

Try deleting ~/.cache after a problematic update, and especially before bugtesting. Typically cache gets invalidated/cleaned whenever a new application version is installed, but in systems with daily builds such versions often do not change, as they're different builds of the same version. This might lead to unexpected bugs that are not generally reproducible.

Settings are spread all over my config folder, it's annoying!

If it bothers you so much, configure all KDE applications with XDG_CONFIG_HOME=~/.config/KDE, this should force your applications to use that folder instead of ~/.config. Do not set this globally!

I have some other questions!

Please see https://userbase.kde.org/Plasma/Tips and https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE#Troubleshooting , or join a local Matrix, Telegram or IRC support group.