David Palacio has made a live CD with the current snapshot packaging of KDE 4.2. The distribution is being made only using the BitTorrent protocol, using the tracker services of LinuxTracker. And do not worry, it is being well seeded!

• More information about this live CD
• Torrent page at LinuxTracker
• Live CD configuration files at github

And remember this is only made with the purpose of take a look to current status of upcoming KDE 4.2. Enjoy!

Good news for those wanting to test KDE 4.2. Finally, we have decided to do a little experiment and provide snapshot packages of current KDE trunk (future KDE 4.2).
First of all, I would like to say that even if I am the one blogging, the most part of the job was done by Modestas Vainius.

I am calling this an experiment because we are not sure yet whether this is a good idea, there are several reasons:

• packaging can suffer big changes before the final release
• this is still code in development with some important bugs
• some upstream changes (like ABI bump) can make huge dependencies problems

All the above reasons are likely to generate a lot of demands from users asking for support that are surely too many for our time and, I am afraid, patience.
So, in short, these packages are being provided without any support from your packagers even if they are done by the people who usually package KDE.

You have the repository and all the information at:
http://kde42.debian.net/.

The current snapshot is post-beta2 and again, before installing the packages, please read all the information. I am sorry if the wording is read as a bit harsh, but we really wanted make clear the message.

Update (25 January 2008): KDE 4.2.0 will be available soon in experimental, if you are a new user, we recommend you to wait until it is fully updated in the Debian repositories and install it from there.

I got a bunch of emails in the last weeks with one or more of the following questions. Here it is for general knowledge :)

Will be KDE 4.2 beta 1 uploaded to experimental? Or to another public repository?
No.

And KDE 4.2 beta 2?
Maybe. But notice if it is uploaded it will be replacing current KDE 4.1 in experimental, so we will upload it only if we are sure it is stable and mature enough to replace 4.1

Will be KDE 4.2 backports in http://kde4.debian.net ?
No, backports were planned only for the KDE 4.1 series.

If experimental starts shipping KDE 4.2 (beta or RC), will be updates in http://kde4.debian.net for 4.1.4 (and if released 4.1.5)?
Yes, there will be backports for all the releases of 4.1.x.

When will be KDE 4 uploaded to unstable? And to testing?
KDE 4 will replace KDE 3 in unstable when Lenny is released. After some time, it will migrate from unstable to testing.

Bonus question: When will be Lenny released?
When it is ready.