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Depending on what you want to do, there a a number of alternatives you can choose from. In order to develop KDE applications you need the KDE and Qt headers and libraries. Many distributions provide those in packaged form for you, usually with the -dev extension in the name of the package. So if you do not depend on features in KDE CVS HEAD you can use those packages to develop your application - it will make your life a bit easier. Keep in mind that the next major KDE release may change APIs which will require you to fix your application.
If however you want to work on some KDE application included in the official KDE release, you'll need to get the CVS sources. Depending on the distribution you're working with there might be a chance that you'll find some precompiled parts to work with, as f.ex. Orth's snapshots for the Debian unstable distribution.
If this is not a valid choice for you, you'll need to compile from CVS. Keep in mind that compiling f.ex. the kdelibs module can take from a couple of hours to days depending on your hardware. Thinking before compiling can spare you a lot of time.
Before you start downloading and compiling the latest sources you should be aware that there's a good chance they won't work! They are in a state of constant development so they could very well have bugs. Developers try -- and you, if you use CVS are strongly encouraged -- to make sure that the code compiles (note that this is not the same as saying the code works) so that there is always something for other developers to work with. Have a look at the KDE CVS Commit Policy for some guidance.
Knowing this, you should find a way to compile and run new KDE stuff
without interfering with your existing stable KDE setup. Here's one
way, using the HEAD branch as an example. We, again, assume your
login is joedeveloper. We also assume that your home directory is in
/home/joedeveloper.
Make a directory called KDE in the home directory of your
user account. This directory is where your KDE development
will take place in. You should not be doing any of this as root! Make another
directory called KDE/CVS. This is where the KDE sources will be.
cd into that directory and get the KDE sources from the HEAD
branch that you want. The (minimum) modules needed to use an application are:
arts and kdelibs. kdebase is recommended but not strictly necessary. You should
compile and install them in that order (see below for compiling). Others you might
want are: kdeutils, kdegraphics, kdesupport, etc. Now, make a directory called
KDE/kde-HEAD. This is where you'll store the
compiled code from the HEAD branch and optionally also the latest Qt 3.x!
You may need to tell configure where to find the proper libraries
when compiling. Something like:
export QT_AND_KDE_DIR=/home/joedeveloper/KDE/kde-HEAD export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$QT_AND_DIR_KDE/lib
Alternatively you can tell configure directly where
to find libraries or headers. Calling:
configure --help
should list all available configuration possibilities.
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