New kde-3.5.5 testing packages

The last several days have been quite busy! :) I've posted some testing packages of kde-3.5.5. They are compiled with dbus, dbus-glib bindings, dbus-qt3 bindings, gamin, and all of the kmail-gpg integration packages, as the goal is to test all of those things as a whole. In other words, if you're just wanting a shiny new kde version number for whatever reason, then these packages are not for you - these are intended for intermediate/advanced Slackware users who are interested in and capable of testing things that are slated for possible inclusion in Slackware -current (of course, whether they are is ultimately Pat's decision, but he is aware of this ongoing project).
Anyway, these need lots of testing, and we'd like to get as much feedback (whether positive or negative) as possible.
There is one bug in konqueror with devices not showing up in it if they're mounted and then subsequently unmounted and remounted (see KDE Bug 136123), but there's little I can do about it until/unless the Konqueror developers address it.
Thanks in advance to everyone who's willing to help out on this.

This will almost certainly be my last post until the holidays are over, so here's wishing happy times to everyone during them.

Updates coming soon...

The GnuPG guys have released gnupg-2.0.1rc1 and libassuan-1.0.1, so I've rebuilt all of the kmail-gpg stuff (and kdebase & kdepim) in /testing - they should be going up at some point tomorrow if all goes well.

KMail Project, XFCE, Slackware -current updates

Several topics of interest today... First, I decided to go ahead and make the necessary changes to build gnupg2-1.9.23, so I've updated all of the kmail/gpg related packages, including kdebase and kdepim. The kdebase package is built with Pat's unmodified SlackBuild script, so other than the fact that it's linked to the gnupg deps, it's identical to the official Slackware package in Slackware -current (the same thing applies to kdepim). A special thanks goes out to Zalamander and Black Panther for testing and provided much needed feedback on these packages.

Brian Tarricone, xfce's xfdesktop maintainer, has advised that the dbus dependency issues have been sorted out in the subversion repository, so the next release candidate of xfce 4.4 will no longer require the dbus and dbus-glib packages. As I stated earlier, I will be maintaining unofficial packages for Slackware 11.0, which will not have the dbus dep (as it will not be in 11.0), but I will also continue to offer packages that are compiled against dbus and dbus-glib for those who wish to have that functionality. Assuming Pat adds dbus and hal to Slackware -current (after 11.0 releases), then of course I will also be maintaining packages compiled against those until such time as Pat decides to incorporate xfce 4.4 into -current.

Speaking of Slackware, we're *still* waiting on 11.0 to release. I'll admit that I'm a bit impatient, but not for the same reasons as most. I'm perfectly happy with the fact that the release will be delayed until it's "ready" (per Pat), as that's what is expected of Slackware. I know we can expect an update to openssh before it's released, and probably a few other things, but like I said, it's not *Slackware* unless it's *ready* when it releases. :-) However, as I said, I am somewhat impatient - I run -current on everything but my firewall box, so I'm ready to get back to the excitement of breaking/fixing things and adding new functionality... :-)

Updates to kmail/gpg project

I posted some updated/rebuilt packages for kmail/gpg integration yesterday, and I've got a rebuilt kdebase package on the way - it should be up sometime tomorrow.

On another note, we're still getting closer to Slackware 11.0 (I think) - it's slowly coming upon us... :-)

SUCCESS! (KMail/GPG) :-)

It's just been reported that the stuff in my testing repo for KMail/GPG decryption is working properly! Thanks to Zalmon Gershon for testing it. I'm following the gnupg development mailing list, so I'll be updating those packages as needed; however, I won't be able to upgrade to gnupg2 1.9.23 (which was released earlier this week), as it has a few bugs in it which prevent building it here. The bugs have been reported, and they are fixed in the subversion repo, but I'm not too keen on building out of svn unless it's necessary. Since things are working as is, I'm leaving them alone (thanks, Pat - you've rubbed off on me) ;-)

Slackware 11.0 RC5 Released

Pat has released Slackware 11.0 RC5, and he added desktop-file-utils to the official package set, so I'll be rebuilding xfce 4.4rc1 tonight and eliminating the included d-f-u package from it. Also, the gnupg team released version 1.9.23 of gnupg2 (development version headed to 2.0) today, so I'll also be building it tonight. Of importance in the list of changes is that this release includes all of the code contained in gunpg 1.4.5, so the development version technically could replace the old stable version now (although it's still not recommended). They're hoping for a release candidate in October, so if all goes well, maybe we can get gnupg 2.0 (and other related stuff) in Slackware 11.1 so that KMail/GPG integration is fully functional (including S/MIME support).

Several new things...

I've made some major changes to both the build scripts and packages of the xfce goodies; instead of one large package containing all of the goodies, they are now built and packaged separately to allow more fine-grained control over what's being installed on the system.

I'm tentatively declaring success on my project to get the gnupg integration and kmail working properly; based on my preliminary tests, I am able to successfully decrypt both my own sent mails as well as encrypted mails sent from others. Both the build scripts and packages are available, and testing/feedback are encouraged. :)

We seem to be creeping closer to the 11.0 release of Slackware; it's been at Release Candidate 4 for a couple of weeks with only a couple of non-minor changes since then, so here's hoping :)

Xfce 4.4 RC1 Released

Xfce has finally released the 4.4 RC1 sources, and I've got them downloaded, so I should have new packages built for Slackware -current within a day or two. Unless something changes between the Slackware 11.0 RC4 and the official 11.0 release, these packages will also be advertised on the xfce mailing lists for 11.0.

On another (unrelated) note, I've been experimenting with some gnupg additions (libgcrypt, libgpg-error, libassuan, gpgme) trying to get email decryption working in KMail. It's turned out to be a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, and it may not even be possible without the development version of gnupg (which includes gpgsm), but we'll see. Wish me luck... :)