Setting the Environment to Run Your Fresh KDE
Prev
Next

Setting the Environment to Run Your Fresh KDE

Assuming you are using a dedicated user to build KDE, and you already have an installed KDE version, running your new KDE may be a bit tricky, as the new KDE has to take precedence over the old. Change the environment variables to make sure it does.

Open or create the .bash_profile file in the home directory with your favorite editor, and add to the end of the file:

TDEDIR=(path to tdedir)
TDEDIRS=$TDEDIR
PATH=$TDEDIR/bin:$TQTDIR/bin:$PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$TDEDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export TDEDIRS PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH
If you are building the qt-copy module, add instead:
TQTDIR=(path to qtdir)
TDEDIR=(path to tdedir)
TDEDIRS=$TDEDIR
PATH=$TDEDIR/bin:$TQTDIR/bin:$PATH
MANPATH=$TQTDIR/doc/man:$MANPATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$TDEDIR/lib:$TQTDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export TQTDIR TDEDIRS PATH MANPATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH

If you are not using a dedicated user, set a different $TDEHOME for your new environment in your .bash_profile:

export TDEHOME="${HOME}/.tde-svn"

# Create it if needed
[ ! -e ~/.tde-svn ] && mkdir ~/.tde-svn

Note

If later your menu is empty or too crowded with applications from your distribution, you may have to set the xdg environment variables in your .bash_profile:

XDG_CONFIG_DIRS="/etc/xdg"
XDG_DATA_DIRS="${TDEDIR}/share:/usr/share"
export XDG_CONFIG_DIRS XDG_DATA_DIRS

Now that we are done with the you have to make sure that the right starttde script is going to be used:

Open the .xinitrc text file (or .xsession, depending on the distribution) from the home directory, or create it if necessary. Add the line:

exec ${TDEDIR}/bin/starttde

Now start your fresh KDE: in BSD and Linux systems with virtual terminal support, Ctrl+Alt+F1...F12 keystroke combinations are used to switch to Virtual Console 1 through 12. This allows you to run more than one desktop environment at the same time. The fist six are text terminals and the following six are graphical displays.

If when you boot you are presented to the graphical display manager instead, you can use the new KDE environment, even if it is not listed as an option. Press Crtl + Alt + F2, and you will be presented to a text terminal. Log in using the dedicated user and type:

startx -- :1

Tip

You can run the KDE from sources and the old KDE at the same time! Log in using your regular user, start the stable KDE desktop. Press Crtl + Alt + F2 (or F1, F3, etc..), and you will be presented to a text terminal. Log in using the dedicated user and type "startx -- :1". You can go back to the regular user by pressing Crtl + Alt + F6 (Or F7, F8, etc... Try them out! One of them is the right one.) To return to KDE from sources, press Crtl + Alt + F7 (or F6, F8,etc..). Now you can switch between your KDE versions, and test the new one knowing you can quickly return to the safety of the stable KDE desktop.

Prev
Next
Home


Would you like to comment or contribute an update to this page?
Send feedback to the TDE Development Team