KDE Packages

With KDE 4.3 separate packages for each application are provided. This article describes the concept about groups and meta packages.

Naming

• module: KDE's source code is organized into several categories called modules. The project releases one source archive per module. See http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Release_Team#Coordinator_List
• group: Packages can be put into a package group. Pacman is able to select packages by groups on install or uninstall. This meta information does not imply any hard dependencies.
• meta package: An empty package which just connects several packages by using dependencies.

Package groups

There are groups for each KDE module. In addition to this there is the kde group which includes the whole KDE distribution and a group strigi-analyzer.

Using groups makes it easier to install and maintain a set of packages. There is no hard dependency between a group and its packages. That means there is no need to install all packages of a group for example. On the other hand pacman wont install any packages new to a certain group on its own.

Just type

pacman -S kdebase kdeutils ...

to install some groups or

pacman -S kde

to install all of them.

Meta packages

There are meta packages for each KDE module. Each of those replace and provide one of the previous packages that were used before KDE 4.3. This also ensures a smooth update to the new split packages.

In contrast to groups meta packages have a hard dependency to all its KDE modules. So, you cannot remove any sub packages without removing the meta package itself. If there are new modules available the use of meta packages ensures that pacman will install those automatically.

All meta packages are member of the kde-meta group and thus can be easily installed or removed.

You can remove or install meta packages at any time in order to use modular packages or emulate the previous monolithic set of packages.

To remove those groups use

pacman -R kde-meta

This wont remove any KDE packages but only the meta packages!

Overview

package group	meta package	packages	description
kdeaccessibility	kde-meta-kdeaccessibility	kdeaccessibility-colorschemes kdeaccessibility-iconthemes kdeaccessibility-kmag kdeaccessibility-kmousetool kdeaccessibility-kmouth kdeaccessibility-kttsd	Accessibility applications
kdeadmin	kde-meta-kdeadmin	kdeadmin-kcron kdeadmin-ksystemlog kdeadmin-kuser kdeadmin-system-config-printer-kde	Tools for system administration
kdeartwork	kde-meta-kdeartwork	kdeartwork-colorschemes kdeartwork-desktopthemes kdeartwork-emoticons kdeartwork-iconthemes kdeartwork-kscreensaver kdeartwork-sounds kdeartwork-styles kdeartwork-wallpapers kdeartwork-weatherwallpapers	Additional icons, styles, etc.
kdebase	kde-meta-kdebase	kdebase-dolphin kdebase-kappfinder kdebase-kdepasswd kdebase-kdialog kdebase-kfind kdebase-kinfocenter kdebase-konqueror kdebase-konsole kdebase-kwrite kdebase-plasma	Essential apps needed to complement a desktop shell for basic functionality (web browser, file manager, ...)
kdebindings	kde-meta-kdebindings	kdebindings-csharp kdebindings-python kdebindings-ruby kdebindings-smoke	Bindings to programming languages
kdeedu	kde-meta-kdeedu	kdeedu-blinken kdeedu-kalgebra kdeedu-kalzium kdeedu-kanagram kdeedu-kbruch kdeedu-kgeography kdeedu-khangman kdeedu-kig kdeedu-kiten kdeedu-klettres kdeedu-kmplot kdeedu-kstars kdeedu-ktouch kdeedu-kturtle kdeedu-kwordquiz kdeedu-marble kdeedu-parley kdeedu-step	Applications with educational content
kdegames	kde-meta-kdegames	kdegames-bomber kdegames-bovo kdegames-kapman kdegames-katomic kdegames-kbattleship kdegames-kblackbox kdegames-kblocks kdegames-kbounce kdegames-kbreakout kdegames-kdiamond kdegames-kfourinline kdegames-kgoldrunner kdegames-killbots kdegames-kiriki kdegames-kjumpingcube kdegames-klines kdegames-kmahjongg kdegames-kmines kdegames-knetwalk kdegames-kolf kdegames-kollision kdegames-konquest kdegames-kpat kdegames-kreversi kdegames-ksame kdegames-kshisen kdegames-ksirk kdegames-kspaceduel kdegames-ksquares kdegames-ksudoku kdegames-ktron kdegames-ktuberling kdegames-kubrick kdegames-lskat	Entertainment
kdegraphics	kde-meta-kdegraphics	kdegraphics-gwenview kdegraphics-kamera kdegraphics-kcolorchooser kdegraphics-kgamma kdegraphics-kolourpaint kdegraphics-kruler kdegraphics-ksnapshot kdegraphics-okular	Graphics viewing and editing
kdemultimedia	kde-meta-kdemultimedia	kdemultimedia-dragonplayer kdemultimedia-juk kdemultimedia-kioslave kdemultimedia-kmix kdemultimedia-kscd kdemultimedia-mplayerthumbs	Audio and video applications
kdenetwork	kde-meta-kdenetwork	kdenetwork-filesharing kdenetwork-kdnssd kdenetwork-kget kdenetwork-kopete kdenetwork-kppp kdenetwork-krdc kdenetwork-krfb	Network-centric apps (IM, remote desktop, etc)
kdepim	kde-meta-kdepim	kdepim-akregator kdepim-console kdepim-kaddressbook kdepim-kalarm kdepim-kjots kdepim-kleopatra kdepim-kmail kdepim-knode kdepim-knotes kdepim-kontact kdepim-korganizer kdepim-kpilot kdepim-kresources kdepim-ktimetracker kdepim-wizards	Groupware
kdeplasma-addons	kde-meta-kdeplasma-addons	kdeplasma-addons-applets-bball kdeplasma-addons-applets-binary-clock kdeplasma-addons-applets-bubblemon kdeplasma-addons-applets-calculator kdeplasma-addons-applets-charselect kdeplasma-addons-applets-comic kdeplasma-addons-applets-dict kdeplasma-addons-applets-eyes kdeplasma-addons-applets-fifteenpuzzle kdeplasma-addons-applets-filewatcher kdeplasma-addons-applets-frame kdeplasma-addons-applets-fuzzy-clock kdeplasma-addons-applets-incomingmsg kdeplasma-addons-applets-kolourpicker kdeplasma-addons-applets-konqprofiles kdeplasma-addons-applets-konsoleprofiles kdeplasma-addons-applets-lancelot kdeplasma-addons-applets-leavenote kdeplasma-addons-applets-life kdeplasma-addons-applets-luna kdeplasma-addons-applets-magnifique kdeplasma-addons-applets-mediaplayer kdeplasma-addons-applets-microblog kdeplasma-addons-applets-news kdeplasma-addons-applets-notes kdeplasma-addons-applets-nowplaying kdeplasma-addons-applets-opendesktop kdeplasma-addons-applets-paste kdeplasma-addons-applets-pastebin kdeplasma-addons-applets-previewer kdeplasma-addons-applets-rememberthemilk kdeplasma-addons-applets-rssnow kdeplasma-addons-applets-showdashboard kdeplasma-addons-applets-showdesktop kdeplasma-addons-applets-systemloadviewer kdeplasma-addons-applets-timer kdeplasma-addons-applets-unitconverter kdeplasma-addons-applets-weather kdeplasma-addons-applets-weatherstation kdeplasma-addons-runners-browserhistory kdeplasma-addons-runners-contacts kdeplasma-addons-runners-converter kdeplasma-addons-runners-katesessions kdeplasma-addons-runners-konquerorsessions kdeplasma-addons-runners-konsolesessions kdeplasma-addons-runners-spellchecker kdeplasma-addons-wallpapers-mandelbrot kdeplasma-addons-wallpapers-marble kdeplasma-addons-wallpapers-pattern kdeplasma-addons-wallpapers-virus kdeplasma-addons-wallpapers-weather	Plasma applets
kdesdk	kde-meta-kdesdk	kdesdk-cervisia kdesdk-kapptemplate kdesdk-kate kdesdk-kbugbuster kdesdk-kcachegrind kdesdk-kdeaccounts-plugin kdesdk-kdepalettes kdesdk-kioslave kdesdk-kmtrace kdesdk-kompare kdesdk-kpartloader kdesdk-kprofilemethod kdesdk-kstartperf kdesdk-kuiviewer kdesdk-lokalize kdesdk-poxml kdesdk-scripts kdesdk-strigi-analyzer kdesdk-umbrello	Tools for software development
kdetoys	kde-meta-kdetoys	kdetoys-amor kdetoys-kteatime kdetoys-ktux kdetoys-kweather	Fun distractions
kdeutils	kde-meta-kdeutils	kdeutils-ark kdeutils-kcalc kdeutils-kcharselect kdeutils-kdelirc kdeutils-kdessh kdeutils-kdf kdeutils-kfloppy kdeutils-kgpg kdeutils-ktimer kdeutils-kwallet kdeutils-okteta kdeutils-printer-applet kdeutils-superkaramba kdeutils-sweeper	Miscellaneous utilities
kdewebdev	kde-meta-kdewebdev	kdewebdev-kfilereplace kdewebdev-kimagemapeditor kdewebdev-klinkstatus kdewebdev-kommander kdewebdev-kxsldbg	Web development tool suite