[Ambassadors] Urgent Matter

[Ryan Rix]

On Mon 30 August 2010 13:22:51 Manuel Escudero wrote:
> I have installed Fedora 13 Goddard x86_64 in my machine and I've updated to
> KDE 4.5, in order to run Skype I installed some 32 bit Qt libraries and
> when I installed the new KDE desktop I had to remove them because KDE 4.4
> uses the "1:4.6" version of these libraries and KDE 4.5 the "1:4.7"...
> Now I have KDE 4.5 and everything is fine but I can't run lastest Skype
> because it needs the "1:4.6" Qt libraries, it doesn't work with the new
> ones, but if I remove the new ones and I replace them with
> the older ones, many apps seem to be "downgraded" or they just don't work
> anymore...
> Does this mean we're not having Skype in Fedora 14 KDE Spin as it's going
> to be based on KDE 4.5?
> 
> Many users need skype (in my case I'm running it in a Windows 7 VM) But
> without it we can't offer reliable "Videocalls" as they're not implemented
> in IM Clients Linux have.

So, a few things here...

This isn't Ambassadors material, please keep it either on the users@ list or 
(probably better) the kde@ list, where most KDE and Qt issues are handled. 
This is most definitely not the place for it, "urgent" or not.

Skype is indeed NOT going to be on the Fedora 14 KDE Spin as it is non-Free 
software. From my PoV, it's harmful for Ambassadors to promote the use of this 
software as it encourages lock in to proprietary applications and (probably 
worse) proprietary protocols. Also, as you can see by your mail, using 
proprietary applications can be more than a "philosophical" issue, given the 
breakage you caused yourself by installing it. Imagine telling a new user how 
to do this, and realizing they have just broken or messed up their 
installation. Does it really put our distribution in a positive light? You 
should be encouraging users to embrace Free solutions such as Ekiga softphone, 
Pidgin and other SIP-based solutions which can be properly packaged for our 
distribution.

Lastly, Qt is supposed to be backwards compatible, meaning that applications 
compiled in Qt 4.6 are supposed to work in Qt 4.7, etc... If you have 
encountered a regression, file a bug at Nokia's Qt bug tracker[1], and let the 
KDE Fedora list know of the issue. This is not the place to discuss such 
issues.

[1]: http://bugreports.qt.nokia.com/

-- 
Ryan Rix
== http://hackersramblings.wordpress.com | http://rix.si/ ==
== http://rix.si/page/contact/ if you need a word         ==
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