Alien Pastures

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Tag: plasma (Page 1 of 5)

New KDE Frameworks and Plasma packages

April 10, 2026 / / 15 Comments

KDE just announced the KDE Frameworks 6.25.0, and earlier this week they came with Plasma 6.6.4.

I built the packages for those new releases – targeting Slackware -current of course. Along with these updates I also refreshed KleverNotes, Krita, Kstars and Okteta to their latest versions.

You can find the packages in my ‘ktown‘ repository: https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/testing/ with the sources in https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/source/testing/ and the changes tracked in git: https://git.slackware.nl/ktown/log/.

If you are using the slackpkg+ extension to slackpkg and have already switched from Slackware’s Plasma5 to my Plasma6 then the upgrade to the latest set of Slackware-current packages along with the new ‘ktown‘ Plasma 6 is trivial (assuming you tagged my repository with the string “ktown” in slackpkgplus.conf):

# slackpkg update
# slackpkg install-new
# slackpkg install ktown
# slackpkg upgrade-all

Are you still running Slackware’s own KDE Plasma5 on the other hand, it must be removed first. No clean upgrade path can be provided! Do as follows:

Use the slackpkg template provided in the package directory (https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/testing/plasma6_remove_plasma5.template is the online version).
The template is called ‘plasma6_remove_plasma5.template‘. This file contains the name of all original Slackware packages that need to be removed.
You can do this either using slackpkg (no slackpkg+ needed):

# cp plasma6_remove_plasma5.template /etc/slackpkg/templates
# slackpkg update
# slackpkg remove-template plasma6_remove_plasma5

… or else using pkgtools:

# cat plasma6_remove_plasma5.template | while read PKGNAME; do removepkg $PKGNAME ; done

And then proceed with the upgrade steps I shared higher-up.

The next major update is going to be KDE Gear 26.04 which will be the first release of KDE Gear (i.e. Applications & PIM) without dependency on Qt5 or the KDE Frameworks 5.
This move to Gear 26.04 requires some additional changes to the packages in Slackware -current itself, for which I asked Pat to assist. Let’s see what happens in the weeks to come.

Have fun and enjoy the weekend. Eric

KDE 6_26.03 for Slackware-current

March 14, 2026 / / 30 Comments

Yesterday evening, KDE released their Frameworks 6.24.0 and taking advantage of the moment and even before morning coffee, I uploaded the Slackware packages for these new Frameworks.

Alongside with these Frameworks, I built a package for the third Beta of Krita 6.0.0 – the KDE drawing tool will finally be available as a Qt6 based application with proper Wayland support. Krita 5.2.15 is still Qt5 based and super stable, but I am replacing it with this  6.0.0.beta3 version because  it’s time to start testing the new software. The stable version 6.0.0 of Krita will hopefully become available in April.

Also I took the opportunity to put a new stamp on my ‘ktown’  KDE Plasma6 package repository: KDE-6_26.03.

You will find all these packages at the origin location: https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/testing/ together with an expansive README which will help you remove KDE Plasma5 from your Slackware-current computer and install the ‘ktown‘ version of KDE Plasma6 instead.

The version of KDE Gear (Applications and PIM) which will be released in April will carry the version 26.04 number and will mark the moment that all official KDE Applications have been ported to Qt6 and KDE Frameworks 6. I will use that moment to switch my ‘ktown’ repository from ‘testing’ to ‘latest’ to highlight the fact that Plasma6 Desktop Environment is ready for production use.

If you want to peek at the source code management, I track everything in a git repository. You will find the 6_26.03 branch at: https://git.slackware.nl/ktown/

Please try these new Plasma6 packages. Not per se to find application bugs; rather I want to fix all bugs related to my packaging. More rigorous testing means that Pat has to do less heavy lifting when he finally adopts ‘ktown’ into Slackware.
And as usual –  leave your feedback in the comments section below.

Cheers, Eric

KDE 6_26.02 for Slackware-current

February 17, 2026 / / 25 Comments

Today I released a fresh batch of KDE Plasma6 packages for 32bit and 64bit Slackware-current to my ‘ktown‘ repository.

You will find these packages at the origin location: https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/testing/ together with an expansive README which will help you remove KDE Plasma5 from your Slackware-current computer and install the ‘ktown‘ version of KDE Plasma6 instead.

My intention is to keep this new Plasma6 package repository in a ‘testing‘ state (as reflected in the repository URL) until KDE Gear (Applications and PIM) version 26.04 is released in April 2026
I expect that the few remaining Qt5 based KDE applications will finally have been ported to Qt6 by that time. That moment, the repository will be promoted from ‘testing‘ to ‘latest‘ and that will then reflect in the repository URL.

If you want to peek at the source code management, I track everything in a git repository. You will find the 6_26.02 branch at: https://git.slackware.nl/ktown/

Let me know what you think after trying out these Plasma6 packages. As usual you can leave your feedback in the comments section below.

Cheers, Eric

Ktown updates: KDE Frameworks and Gear (PIM & Applications)

January 9, 2026 / / 26 Comments

Today KDE Frameworks 6.22.0 were released, and yesterday we already saw new KDE Gear 25.12.1 tarballs.
Note – in ‘ktown’ you will find that KDE Gear packages are split over ‘kdepim’ and ‘applications’.

I built new packages for those new sources and now you can get the packages for 32bit and 64bit Slackware from the original server: https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/testing/ or else from one of its mirrors.
For US folk, this one already has all the new packages: https://us.slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/testing/ .

You can download the sources from https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/source/testing/ and if you want to track the changes in git, go visit https://git.slackware.nl/ktown/log/?h=6_26.01

Have fun! Eric

KDE Plasma 6_25.12 for Slackware-current

December 29, 2025 / / 64 Comments

A couple of days ago, I promised to use my holiday to come up with packages for KDE Plasma6.
Today I finished compiling packages for 32bit and 64bit Slackware-current and uploaded a fresh package repository to my ‘ktown‘. The name seems to stick with people, even when it has not seen activity for two years, so I will keep calling it ‘ktown‘.

You will find these packages at the origin location: https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/testing/ together with an expansive README which will help you remove KDE Plasma5 from your Slackware-current computer and install the ‘ktown‘ version of KDE Plasma6 instead.

I just went through the process and this is the first time that I am actually running and using KDE Plasma6 on my production laptop:

I did not have to remove any kind of configuration from $HOME and merely had to delete a couple of obsoleted system tray elements.

I also switched to Wayland instead of X11 and to be honest, that is working better than expected and even better than the good old X11 session. For instance, suddenly I can play 4K video in VLC without stuttering. And the laptop’s  Synaptics touchpad was not found at all in the X11 session (must be a bug because I had been using it for 9 years in Slackware KDE)… while it works perfectly in the Wayland session.
The thing that I miss is the Latte Dock which was dropped from KDE Plasma. Having these MacOS-like ballooning application launcher icons floating at the bottom of my screen always impressed my friends, but it was also extremely powerful in the way I could manage my favorite applications. In Plasma6 I created an auto-hiding QuickLaunch panel at the bottom of the screen but it looks dull compared with the Latte Dock. Shame.

My intention is to keep this new Plasma6 package repository in a ‘testing‘ state as reflected in the repository URL. I expect that there’s stuff that does not work as it should and I would like you all to help in testing and stabilizing the packages. When KDE Gear 26.04 releases in April 2026 I expect that the few remaining Qt5 based KDE applications will finally have been ported to Qt6. By that time, I want to promote the repository from ‘testing‘ to ‘latest‘ and that will then reflect in the repository URL.

If you would look at the content behind the ‘latest‘ repository right now (https://slackware.nl/alien-kde/current/latest/) you will see that it is pointing to a single left-over package for KDE Plasma5 (Slackware 15.0): ‘phonon-vlc‘, a backend for Phonon that requires VLC media player. By the way, I renamed that package to ‘phonon-backend-vlc‘ for Plasma6 to be in line with the Slackware naming convention for these backends.
In April 2026 that repository will get a new  ‘stable’ URL to reflect that it is meant for the stable release of Slackware.

If you want to peek at the source code management, I track everything in a git repository. You will find the 6_25.12 branch at: https://git.slackware.nl/ktown/
A word of thanks to LuckyCyborg who maintained a fork of my ‘ktown‘ during 2024/2025. He never contacted me about this but I was made aware of his activities. I checked out his scripts last week and there were some improvements he came up with that I have incorporated into my own sources. See the git commit message for more details.

I suggest that you try these Plasma6 packages out yourselves! Please leave your feedback in the comments section below.

Enjoy the end-of-year festivities and all the best for 2026! Let’s hope that Slackware merges Plasma6 before the end of 2026.
Cheers, Eric

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