KDE4 Development && Personal News

KDE4 development has started for a few months now. So, what is going up exactly? There are different levels of work in trunk (trunk is where the KDE 4 code is in svn). First kdelibs has been ported to Qt4. The most of it is done but there is still to eliminate all the Qt3 classes. From kdelibs, a snapshot is made every 2 weeks. This kdelibs snapshot stays stable and developers can port other modules against it. The build system for this is unsermake.
So, what about scons-bksys, I hear you ask. This new build system is still being written to fit the needs of KDE code (don't forget that KDE is a very big project) and thus it is not really operational yet.
What would a developer do if he wants to develop for KDE 4? I am tempted to say it depends on his skills. Lots of important work needs to be done in kdelibs (see the TODO in kdelibs trunk and read kde-core-devel mailing list). That requires good C++ skills, team work and KDE knowledge.
Help is also needed for scons-bksys (python experts, do volunteer!)
Another range of work is to port kdebase against the kdelibs snapshot by eliminating the warnings and deprecated methods and variables.
The last area is to port other modules against the kdelibs snapshot. Porting means to make compile (quite easy) and removing the most of old Qt3 support classes. Then your program will need code fixes to make it work. I ported Kard (a Memory-like game for kids where they have to pair 2 cards) but although the program now compiles, it does not work: the colors are not shown when you click on a card!
An advice for users who would like to "try" KDE 4 (I met some on IRC #kde): KDE 4 is not in a working state therefore don't install it over your stable current KDE. The best (safest) way to test it is to use a new user, see this fabulous HowTo! ;-)

In around two months and for the next following months, I won't be around a lot as I am expecting our fifth child and he/she (we wanted NOT to know) is due for March 13th. We're all very happy and the other children are running contests about names! All went well for me so far (of course I stopped karate and my voluntary work at school) and now that I have wireless I can use my laptop from my favorite comfy armchair :-) We'll also move back to France in the summer so 2006 is bringing us very exciting stuff!