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