Mac
KDE on Mac OSX
This is the community page for the KDE on Mac team. It is also a stand-in for the http://mac.kde.org website which is currently very outdated and so has been taken offline.
Installing KDE on Mac OSX
KDE does not currently provide binary downloads for Mac OSX. Instead you need to build KDE for yourself from source. The easiest way to do this is to use one of the Mac build systems which will automatically resolve all the dependencies for you. Unfortunately, this can be a very long process, taking up to 2 or more days. As at 23 June 2011 MacPorts is currently recommended as it is the most up-to-date.
Installing using MacPorts
As at 23 June 2011, MacPorts has KDE 4.6.4 and KDE 3.5.10 available for installation. Note that KDE3 is unsupported by both KDE and MacPorts.
Instructions are provided on TechBase for installing a development environment using MacPorts. If you want a user installation then just skip the final 'Configure your KDE development environment' section.
Installing using Fink
As at 23 June 2011, MacPorts has KDE 4.4.1 and KDE 3.5.10 available for installation. Note that KDE3 is unsupported by both KDE and Fink.
The Fink packages allow you to install KDE4 as either Qt/X11 or Qt/Mac (native) packages by selecting either packages ending in "-x11" or "-mac", for example "kdebase4-x11" and "kdebase4-mac".
Additionally, the Fink packages allow the running of the Plasma desktop in X11 mode. Just install "kdebase4-workspace-x11" to install it.
The Fink KDE packages will be installed in /sw/opt/kde4/x11 or /sw/opt/kde4/mac respectively. They also are able to start D-Bus for you as long as you run "/sw/bin/init.sh" normally, or when you open a terminal, if you have run the path setup script in the Fink installer.
Application Installers
Some KDE applications provide a standalone installer, usually in a Qt only mode and missing some KDE integration features.
Running KDE Applications
The applications should be run from the Finder, you can find them in /Applications/KDE4.
Before running any KDE apps you need to perform a couple of steps once only (replace $USER with your our username):
sudo chown -R $USER ~/Library/Preferences/KDE sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.freedesktop.dbus-system.plist
Sometimes, Installer.app fails to run the post-install. If things are acting funny, try running these two commands in a terminal:
launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist /opt/local/bin/kbuildsycoca4
Getting Help
IRC:
- #kde-mac
Mailing list:
Forums:
Bugs:
TechBase Pages
Many of these TechBase pages are outdated, most of the content is no longer valid and should be moved to community and/or deleted. Please use with care.
- http://techbase.kde.org/Getting_Started/Build/Mac_OS_X
- http://techbase.kde.org/Getting_Started/Build/Mac_OS_X/MacPorts
- http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Mac_OS_X/KDE_3
- http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Mac_OS_X/TODO
- http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Mac_OS_X/Tips_On_Building
- http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Mac_OS_X/Macbook_Manifesto
Old Website
The old website can still be found in subversion