New subject: [opensuse-kde] Revisit: Action plans for Plasma 5 as default in openSUSE

10 Mar 2015

      Hello openSUSE KDE users and contributors,

This mail outlines our plans for moving towards Plasma 5 as a default desktop 
for the next openSUSE release, includinga tentative action plan and where help 
from you all is required. We do not believe on pushing changes on users 
without some sort of preparation, therefore this document describes the 
transition plan.

See the previous mails for a rationale of this decision.

==== The plan ====

Phase 1: Gather input from the community

In this phase, we would like people from the community, if they are able to, 
to test the currently-available code. It's quite easy, as all the required 
software is already available directly in Tumbleweed.  You should install 
Plasma 5 from there (bear in mind that its install will not coexist with the 
4.x workspace) and simply try using it. 

We are most interested with feedback, in particular:

- Testing packaging
- Testing upgrades of packages
- Helping with building openQA tests
- Checking for missing functionality

Feedback will tracked through the following connect.opensuse.org polls:

- Overall experience [1] : What does fowrk for you? What doesn't?
- Missing functionality [2]: What are you missing from the 4.x workspace that 
you deem irrepleaceable?
- Upgrade experience [3]: Was the upgrade from the 4.x packages smooth? Did 
anything break?
- Visual and hardware-related issues [4]: Is Plasma 5 running well with your 
hardware?

Bugs in the software should be reported upstream, but any issue in the 
packaging should be reported to openSUSE's Bugzilla.

Phase 2: OpenQA testing

We will discuss with the rest of the openSUSE community on how to handle 
Plasma 5 on openQA.  This is where we need your help the most, because openQA 
needles are an important part of the openSUSE testing and we need many to 
ensure a smooth experience (and transition from 4.x), and we need a lot of 
them to ensure there are no hiccups down the road. Refer to http://os-autoinst.github.io/openQA/ to see how you can contribute.

This phase will go as long as we can get comparable results as the 4.x 
workspace on openQA.

=== What about applications ? ===

As with regards to application releases from KDE (KDE Applications xx.yyy), 
our plan is to use directly what KDE releases, meaning that we will switch to 
KF5-based applications once upstream makes stable releases of them. If there 
are no KF5-based releases of a particular application, the currently available 
4.x version will be used.

=== New repository layout ===

As part of the migration plan, when Plasma 5 becomes the default desktop in 
openSUSE the following changes will take place:

- KDE:Frameworks5 (already the devel project for Plasma 5 and the KF5 
libraries) will take the place of KDE:Distro:Factory (slowly phased out)
- Application releases will be hosted in a separate development project, 
KDE:Applications

KDE:Current, offering 4.x based releases, will be kept for users of past 
openSUSE versions. 

=== Contingency plan ===

In case the issues reported during the testing period are too severe, we will 
revert back to the 4.x workspace and await further improvements from upstream.

=== How can I help ? ===

First and foremost: testing! We've been running the KF5 based desktop for a 
while but the team is small, we need more eyes looking for potential issues. 
Secondly: openQA tests are an essential foundation of an always-stable 
Tumbleweed, therefore this is another eare where help is warranted. A third 
area is documentation: wiki pages, guides, anything that can help in the 
transition. The team can help providing the required information.

Above all: always be constructive when reporting issues. Saying "It sucks, get 
back to 4.x" is not only not going to help, but it is severely demotivating 
and that can be a problem with a task of this size. We're all humans, don't 
forget that. ;)

=== Poll links ===

[1] https://connect.opensuse.org/pg/polls/read/luca_b/47114/what-is-your-experie...
[2] https://connect.opensuse.org/pg/polls/read/luca_b/47132/what-functionality-d...
[3] https://connect.opensuse.org/pg/polls/read/luca_b/47168/how-was-your-upgrade...
[4] https://connect.opensuse.org/pg/polls/read/luca_b/47184/how-is-your-plasma-5...

Luca Beltrame
on behalf of the openSUSE community KDE Team

-- 
Luca Beltrame - KDE Forums team
KDE Science supporter
GPG key ID: 6E1A4E79

[opensuse-kde] Action plans for Plasma 5 as default in openSUSE

Sam M.

Sam M.

Sam M.

Markus Slopianka

Sam M.

Sam M.

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