DATELINE JULY 2, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KDE Project Ships Enhanced Service Release for Leading Open Source Desktop

The KDE Project Ships the Third-Generation of the Leading Desktop for Linux/UNIX, Offering Enterprises, Governments, Schools, and Other Institutions an Outstanding Free and Open Desktop Solution

July 2, 2002 (The INTERNET). The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.0.2, the third generation of KDE's free, powerful desktop for Linux and other UNIXes. KDE 3.0.2 is available in 50 languages and ships with the core KDE libraries, the base desktop environment, an integrated development environment, and hundreds of applications and other desktop enhancements from the other KDE base packages (PIM, administration, network, edutainment, development, utilities, multimedia, games, artwork, and others).

KDE 3.0.2 primarily provides useability and stability enhancements over KDE 3.0.1, which shipped in late May 2002. For a complete list of changes since KDE 3.0, please see the change log.

"KDE 3.0.2 is the second maintenance release of the KDE 3.0 series," explained Dirk Mueller, the KDE 3 release coordinator. "A number of stability and useability enhancements have been backported from the active KDE 3.1 branch to the KDE 3.0 codebase and bundled in this update. We recommend that all KDE 3 users update to this newest, stable release."

KDE, including all its libraries and its applications, is available for free under Open Source licenses. KDE can be obtained in source and numerous binary formats from the KDE http or ftp mirrors, and can also be obtained on CD-ROM or with any of the major Linux/UNIX systems shipping today.

For more information about the KDE 3 series, please read the KDE 3.0 announcement and the KDE 3.0.2 information page.

Installing KDE 3.0.2 Binary Packages

Binary Packages. Some Linux/UNIX OS vendors have kindly provided binary packages of KDE 3.0.2 for some versions of their distribution, and in other cases community volunteers have done so. Some of these binary packages are available for free download from KDE's http or ftp mirrors. Additional binary packages, as well as updates to the packages now available, may become available via the KDE servers over the coming weeks.

Please note that the KDE Project makes these packages available from the KDE web site as a convenience to KDE users. The KDE Project is not responsible for these packages as they are provided by third parties - typically, but not always, the distributor of the relevant distribution - using tools, compilers, library versions and quality assurance procedures over which KDE exercises no control. In addition, please note that some vendors provide binary packages solely through their servers. If you cannot find a binary package for your OS, or you are displeased with the quality of binary packages available for your OS, please read the KDE Binary Package Policy and/or contact your OS vendor.

Library Requirements / Options. The library requirements for a particular binary package vary with the system on which the package was compiled. Please bear in mind that some binary packages may require a newer version of Qt and other libraries than was shipped with the system (e.g., LinuxDistro X.Y may have shipped with Qt-3.0.0 but the packages below may require Qt-3.0.3). For general library requirements for KDE, please see the text at Source Code - Library Requirements below.

Package Locations. At the time of this release, pre-compiled packages are available through the KDE servers (or elsewhere, where indicated) for the following distributions and versions (please be sure to read the applicable README first):

Additional binary packages will likely become available over the coming days and weeks.

Compiling KDE 3.0.2

Library Requirements / Options. KDE 3.0.2 requires Qt 3.0.3 for X11. In addition, KDE can take advantage of a number of other optional libraries and applications to improve your desktop experience and capabilities.

Compiler Requirements. KDE is designed to be cross-platform and hence to compile with a large variety of Linux/UNIX compilers. However, KDE is advancing very rapidly and the ability of native compilers on various UNIX systems to compile KDE depends on users of those systems reporting compile problems to the responsible developers.

With respect to the most popular KDE compiler, gcc/egcs, please note that some components of KDE will not compile properly with gcc versions earlier than gcc-2.95, such as egcs-1.1.2 or gcc-2.7.2, or with unpatched versions of gcc 3.0.x. However, KDE should compile properly with gcc 3.1.

Source Code / SRPMs. The complete source code for KDE 3.0.2 is available for download (MD5 sums can be verified on the Source MD5 Sums page). The source packages have been digitally signed with GnuPG using the KDE Archives PGP Key (available from the KDE Signature page or public key servers).

Additionally, source rpms are available for Conectiva Linux, Mandrake Linux and SuSE Linux.

Further Information. For further instructions on compiling and installing KDE 3.0.2, please consult the installation instructions and, if you should encounter compilation difficulties, the KDE Compilation FAQ.

KDE Sponsorship

Besides the superb and invaluable efforts by the KDE developers themselves, significant support for KDE development has been provided by MandrakeSoft and SuSE. In addition, the members of the KDE League provide significant support for KDE promotion, and the University of Tübingen provides most of the Internet bandwidth for the KDE project. Thanks!

About KDE

KDE is an independent project of hundreds of developers, translators, artists and other professionals worldwide collaborating over the Internet to create and freely distribute a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop and office environment employing a flexible, component-based, network-transparent architecture and offering an outstanding development platform. KDE provides a stable, mature desktop, a full, component-based office suite (KOffice), a large set of networking and administration tools and utilities, and an efficient, intuitive development environment featuring the excellent IDE KDevelop. KDE is working proof that the Open Source "Bazaar-style" software development model can yield first-rate technologies on par with and superior to even the most complex commercial software.

Trademarks Notices. KDE, K Desktop Environment, KDevelop and KOffice are trademarks of KDE e.V. Compaq, Alpha and Tru64 are either trademarks and/or service marks or registered trademarks and/or service marks of Hewlett-Packard Company. IBM and PowerPC are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation. Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Trolltech and Qt are trademarks of Trolltech AS. UNIX and Motif are registered trademarks of The Open Group. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to in this announcement are the property of their respective owners.