KDE4 apps don't launch

[Brandon Allbery]

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 20:19, Ian Wadham <iandw.au at gmail.com> wrote:

>  - Getting the links to sockets and temp dirs correct (on a Linux system,
> KDE does
>    that automagically),
>

For what it's worth, the problem on OS X is making KDE4 play along with the
paths and temporary file ecosystem in OS X; KDE4 programs need relatively
fixed pathnames for their sockets and caches, which are provided by the
symlinks in ~/Library/Preferences/KDE4, while those symlinks are (or should
be) configured to go where OS X wants them to go.  But because the paths are
built differently (most notably, KDE4 puts hostnames in its temp and cache
pathnames, whereas OS X uses its own mechanism where such things are
symlinked higher up in the path into a host-specific /private tree) the
symlinks need to be rolled anew potentially whenever the network
configuration changes.  (That dependency on the network configuration also
plagues XQuartz; if you are on a dynamic IP connection which changes often,
you may well see things break until re-symlinked,  The /private arrangement
used by OS X avoids this.)


>  - Getting dbus to run (also automagical on Linux),
>

More precisely, it's rolled into the desktop manager.  Since dbus isn't
native to the OS X desktop, it needs to be hooked in after the fact.  This
is actually fairly easy, but MacPorts' service configuration stuff isn't (or
wasn't as of 1.9.2; I haven't poked at 2.0.x yet) set up to handle services
which have both system and session components.  I don't know if this is
likely to change, since I think dbus is the only thing that needs it.


>  - Getting kdeinit4 to run (some KDE apps seem to require it, others not).
>

Again, usually handled by the desktop manager.  But I'm inclined to think
that any KDE4 application that requires kdeinit4 to already be running is
breaking the rules in its startup code somewhere; if you find a reproducible
case, you should file a bug against it upstream.  (Some people do want to
run KDE programs under GNOME, LXDE, etc., where you would have the same
problem of kdeinit4 not necessarily running.)


I also need to find out more about how Mac OS X starts up applications and
> would
> appreciate some pointers, hints or links from this list.  I am new to the
> Mac.  For example,
> where do stdout and stderr go when you do "open x.app" in a Terminal?
>

They are captured by launchd and syslogged; see
/Applications/Utilities/Console.app.

The "giving up" behavior you mentioned with respect to application startup
is much the same as the launch feedback behavior of KDE4, aside from it not
being (directly?) configurable.  When the launch times out; an insensitive
application icon is left in the Dock; if the application were to finish its
initialization, it would still start up.

There really are some excellent apps in KDE, such as KMyMoney, Digikam and
> the KDE Edu suite, not to mention KDE Games ... :-) ... and IMHO it would
> be well
> worth making sure these become easier to get running from Macports.
>

I did go to the trouble of getting KDE4 built on my old iBook in expectation
of my current situation (ensconced in a motel room, limited internet and no
expectation of being able to set up the iMac or the external drive with
XCode on it).  :)

-- 
brandon s allbery                                      allbery.b at gmail.com
wandering unix systems administrator (available)     (412) 475-9364 vm/sms
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