rant about KDE

[Dave Tyson <dtyson%wirralcavinggroup.org.uk@localhost>]

*rant on*

This is definitely NOT directed at NetBSD developers, but rather at the
Linux brained KDE developers who seem to fail to understand the idea of
software usability and continuity.

The version of KDE in pkgsrc current has switched from 4.5.5 to 4.8.0
with the pim components shifting from 4.4.9 to 4.4.11. The reason the
pim stuff is back release is pim2 (kmail2 etc) seems to be a heap of
s**t with loads of issues and problems reported in linuxland.

I had already had a play with kde 4.8/4.4.11 while in wip, but use 4.5.5
/4.4.9 as a production desktop. I tried korganizer (lets stick with the
US spelling) under 4.8.0 and had a load of problems - I tried to use my 
config from 4.4.9 but it didn't seem to work properly and korganizer
(which I use heavily) crashed repeatably so I gave up. However since the
switch to the later variants has happened in pkgsrc I thought I had
better check it out again.

I discovered the reason I had problems with the slightly newer
korganiser 4.4.11 is due to the KDE developers deciding to remove the
default option of storing the calendar in a single file local file
(icsout.ics). This option no longer exists and no conversion is done
automatically. You may have the old file in the right place, but the
newer version of the software just ignores it - great for continuity.
Don't forget this is just a two minor point release change, its not like
e.g. going from 4.4 to 4.5.

OK, having all your events/journal entries in one file is probably a bad
idea, but it was the default. So you just export all the stuff from the
older version and bite the bullet and opt for a directory containing one
file per event/journal.  So you go through the menu and go to create the
directory - You would prefer it somewhere like it used to be, say a
directory in .kde or .local so it cannot be accidently deleted - but you
find that KDE won't allow you to have hidden files in paths. So you lie
and create it as xxxx in your home directory, import the calendar entries,
rename xxxx to the directory to what you fancy and think you will fix it
by editing the korganizerrc file. Wrong!  The cretins who wrote KDE didn't
put the name of the calendar file there, noooo!  it's in file kdeglobals.
For crying out loud - why?

Just to top it off, if you make the slightest mistake then many KDE
components die with an abort trap (6)

*rant off*

Dave

[sadly a KDE user for a too many years, KDE 2/3 were fine...]

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