2.4. Using the kde-builder tool#
With the configuration data established, now you are ready to run the tool.
2.4.1. Loading project metadata#
The metadata downloading is handled automatically when needed. But in case you want to download it manually, run the command:
kde-builder --metadata-only
This command will set up the source directory and download special repository from invent.kde.org containing data about all KDE projects, their dependencies between each other and from third party projects. No other changes will be made. It is useful to run this separately as this metadata is useful for other kde-builder commands.
2.4.2. Previewing what will happen when kde-builder runs#
With the project metadata installed, it is possible to preview what
kde-builder will do when launched. This can be done with the
--pretend command line option.
kde-builder kcalc --pretend
You should see a message saying that some packages were successfully built (although nothing was actually built). If there were no significant problems shown, you can proceed to actually running the script.
kde-builder kcalc
This command will download the appropriate source code, build and install each project in order. Afterwards, you should see output similar to that in example_title:
$ kde-builder kcalc
Fetching remote changes to sysadmin-repo-metadata
Merging sysadmin-repo-metadata changes from branch master
Holding performance profile
Building extra-cmake-modules from frameworks (1/26)
Fetching remote changes to extra-cmake-modules
Merging extra-cmake-modules changes from branch master
No changes to extra-cmake-modules source code, but proceeding to build anyway.
Compiling... succeeded (after 2 seconds)
Installing extra-cmake-modules succeeded (after 2 seconds)
Building plasma-wayland-protocols from kf6-support (2/26)
Fetching remote changes to plasma-wayland-protocols
Merging plasma-wayland-protocols changes from branch master
No changes to plasma-wayland-protocols source code, but proceeding to build anyway.
Compiling... succeeded (after 0 seconds)
Installing plasma-wayland-protocols succeeded (after 2 seconds)
Building kconfig from frameworks (3/26)
Fetching remote changes to kconfig
Merging kconfig changes from branch master
Source update complete for kconfig: 1 file affected.
Compiling... succeeded (after 2 seconds)
Note: -- 3 -- compile warnings
Installing kconfig succeeded (after 2 seconds)
...
Building kcalc from kdeutils (26/26)
Fetching remote changes to kcalc
Merging kcalc changes from branch master
No changes to kcalc source code, but proceeding to build anyway.
Compiling... succeeded (after 1 minute and 34 seconds)
Installing kcalc succeeded (after 2 seconds)
<<< PACKAGES SUCCESSFULLY BUILT >>>
Built 26 modules
:-)
Your logs are saved in /home/username/kde/log/2024-10-20_07
2.4.3. Resolving build failures#
KDE Builder logs the output of every command it runs. By default, the
log files are kept in ~/kde/log. To see what caused an error
for a project in the last kde-builder command, usually it is sufficient
to look at ~/kde/log/latest/project-name/error.log.
Tip
Perhaps the easiest way to find out what error caused a project to fail
to build is to search backward with a case-insensitive search, starting
from the end of the file looking for the word error. Once that is
found, scroll up to make sure there are no other error messages nearby.
The first error message in a group is usually the underlying problem.
In that file, you will see the error that caused the build to fail for that project. If the file says (at the bottom) that you are missing some packages, try installing the package (including any appropriate -dev packages) before trying to build that project again. Make sure that when you run kde-builder again to pass the --reconfigure option so that kde-builder forces the project to check for the missing packages again.
Or, if the error appears to be a build error (such as a syntax error, "incorrect prototype", "unknown type", or similar) then it is probably an error with the KDE source, which will hopefully be resolved within a few days. If it is not resolved within that time, feel free to mail the kde-devel@kde.org mailing list (subscription may be required first) in order to report the build failure.
On the other hand, assuming everything went well, you should have a new KDE installation on your computer, and now it is simply a matter of running it, described in the section Installing login session.
Note
For more information about KDE Builder's logging features, please see the section called Build logging.