Getting Answers to Your Questions
Many people have questions concerning KDE, KDE applications or their operating system and do not know how to find the answer. This summary provides some useful resources you can use to answer any questions concerning KDE, KDE applications or your operating system.
The first step is to decide which type of question you have. If it's related to using KDE itself, then see section 1. If you are doing KDE development, see section 2. If your question is related to your operating system (e.g., "my sound system does not work"), see section 3. Finally, if you have discovered a bug in KDE, see section 4.
1. General KDE Questions
If you have a problem with a KDE application that is part of the "core" KDE distribution (kdebase, kdeutils, kdenetwork, etc), or about the KDE desktop, your best bet is to utilize the resources provided by the KDE community.- Look through the KDE Help Center. KDE ships with a Help Center application that has all the KDE application documentation as well as quite a bit of system documentation in one searchable place. It also includes a few "quickstart" guides. This is always the first place to look for answers to any KDE question.
- Look at the KDE User Guide. The KDE User Guide will soon be a comprehensive source of basic KDE information. Meanwhile, you can read an alpha version. Help is needed with writing and updating this guide: write to The KDE documentation team if you can help.
- Read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). The KDE Documentation Team maintains a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document. If you are running a stable version of KDE and have a question about it, it will very likely be answered in this document.
- Search KDE websites. A lot of questions can also be answered from the KDE websites, and the documentation included on it. You can search all the KDE websites via the search field in the sidebar of any www.kde.org webpage.
- Search mailing lists. A lot of questions have already been answered on the KDE mailing lists, especially the kde and koffice (not koffice-devel) mailing lists. You can search these lists at lists.kde.org. In addition, there is a KDE newsgroup called comp.windows.x.kde which you can search here. You should always search for your answer before asking questions on the mailing lists. When you ask a question on a mailing list you are emailing thousands of people -- please do this only if the answer is not available through a simple search.
- Search engines. Do not forget about your favorite search engine. One of the best search engines is Google. With Google you can also search the great bulk of Usenet news sites, which is also particularly helpful, especially for general OS questions (see below).
- Ask on IRC. You can find many helpful people on the freenode IRC network. The channels #kde and #kde-users are dedicated specifically to helping with user questions, and there are knowledgeable and helpful people there. You can use irc.kde.org as the server in your IRC software to connect to freenode. These tips on asking questions should help you to get useful answers.
- Ask on KDE news group/mailing lists. If you still do not have an answer, try asking your question on the KDE news group or one of the KDE mailing lists. For user-land questions, your two best choices are probably the kde (subscribe) and, for KDE/GNU/Linux-related questions, the kde-linux (subscribe) mailing lists and the comp.windows.x.kde newsgroup. If your question relates to KOffice, you can also try the KOffice mailing list (subscribe). A full list of KDE mailing lists is available here and here.
2. KDE Development Questions
If your question concerns KDE development, your options are pretty much the same as above, with some modifications:
- Read the Developer FAQ. Many common developer questions have been answered in the KDE Developer FAQ
- Search/browse KDE websites. A lot of questions can also be answered from the KDE websites, and the documentation included on it. You can search all the KDE websites on the homepage. In addition, you can browse the KDE developer website.
- Search mailing lists. A lot of questions have already been answered on the KDE mailing lists, particular the lists kde-devel, kde2-porting, kde-core-devel, kde-games-devel, kfm-devel and koffice-devel. You can search these lists either at lists.kde.org. You should always search for your answer before asking questions on the mailing lists. When you ask a question on a mailing list you are emailing thousands of people -- please do this only if the answer is not available through a simple search.
- Search engines. Do not forget about your favorite search engine. One of the best search engines is Google. With Google you can also search the great bulk of Usenet news sites, which is also particularly helpful, especially for general programming and gcc-related questions.
- Ask on KDE mailing lists. If you still do not have an
answer, try asking your question on one of the KDE mailing lists
listed above.
- For questions relating to core development or third-party KDE development, unless you are particularly interested in Konqueror, KOffice, games or Java development, your main choice is kde-devel (subscribe).
- For questions relating to Konqueror development, your main choice is kfm-devel (subscribe)
- For questions relating to KOffice development, your main choice is koffice-devel (subscribe)
- For questions relating to games development, your main choice is kde-games-devel (subscribe)
- For questions relating to Java development with KDE, your main choice is kde-java (subscribe)
- For questions relating to Qt development, please use the fine Qt mailing list.
