Which patches to apply to source RPMs for a mini KDE?

[M. Fioretti]

Greetings,

I want to figure out how to install stable, already packaged versions
of only some KDE applications on a Fedora Core 3 system which already
has X and Qt. In other words, I would like to start from some KDE
source RPMs for Fedora and massage the spec and Make files until I get
other RPMs that *only* install:

KOffice
Konqueror
KMail
Kopete
Kpdf
(maybe a couple more whose name escapes me now)
all the base KDE libraries that are *really* needed by those programs

*nothing* else: NO sound, only one theme and set of icons, no
wallpaper, no animation.... 

The purpose is to build a mini-KDe desktop for basic SOHO applications
which has modern functionality (gpg, Khtml, Imap OpenDocument
support...) but is as light as possible on RAM and hard drive.

Said this:

what are the latest stable SRPMS for the apps above for FC3, and
where?

any suggestion and tip on how and which files and settings remove
and/or change (how) in the spec files?

Thank you in advance,
      Marco

-- 
Marco Fioretti                    mfioretti, at the server mclink.it
Fedora Core 3 for low memory      http://www.rule-project.org/

In a hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account
was, the type of house I lived in, or the kinds of clothes I wore, but
the world may be much different because I was important in the life of
a child                                         Author unknown

[Michael A. Peters]

On Sun, 2005-06-12 at 12:54 +0200, M. Fioretti wrote:
>  Greetings,
>  
>  I want to figure out how to install stable, already packaged versions
>  of only some KDE applications on a Fedora Core 3 system which already
>  has X and Qt. In other words, I would like to start from some KDE
>  source RPMs for Fedora and massage the spec and Make files until I get
>  other RPMs that *only* install:
>  
>  KOffice
>  Konqueror
>  KMail
>  Kopete
>  Kpdf
>  (maybe a couple more whose name escapes me now)
>  all the base KDE libraries that are *really* needed by those programs
>  
>  *nothing* else: NO sound, only one theme and set of icons, no
>  wallpaper, no animation.... 
>  
>  The purpose is to build a mini-KDe desktop for basic SOHO applications
>  which has modern functionality (gpg, Khtml, Imap OpenDocument
>  support...) but is as light as possible on RAM and hard drive. 
Many apps are linked against libraries as a compile time detection - and
the same package can be built so it is NOT linked against the libraries.

The way to do it is to remove the BuildRequires for those packages and
build in mach - that way the resulting rpm's won't be linked against the
optional libraries you don't want.

You also could disable the optional libraries explicitly in the spec
spec file at the configure line.

[M. Fioretti]

On Sun, Jun 12, 2005 07:27:32 AM -0700, Michael A. Peters
(mpeters(a)mac.com) wrote: 
>  On Sun, 2005-06-12 at 12:54 +0200, M. Fioretti wrote:
>  > Greetings,
>  > 
>  > I want to figure out how to install stable, already packaged
>  > versions of only some KDE applications on a Fedora Core 3 system
>  > which already has X and Qt. 
[...]
>  > The purpose is to build a mini-KDe desktop for basic SOHO
>  > applications which has modern functionality (gpg, Khtml, Imap
>  > OpenDocument support...) but is as light as possible on RAM and
>  > hard drive.
>  
>  Many apps are linked against libraries as a compile time detection - and
>  the same package can be built so it is NOT linked against the libraries.
>  
>  The way to do it is to remove the BuildRequires for those packages and
>  build in mach - that way the resulting rpm's won't be linked against the
>  optional libraries you don't want.
>  
>  You also could disable the optional libraries explicitly in the spec
>  spec file at the configure line.
>   
Michael,

Thanks for the prompt answer. I will experiment as you suggest, but
what did you exactly mean with the "build in mach" bit above? I
understand the rest of your message, but that piece of sentence
confused me...

Related question: is there anything I could read to understand a
priori, with the smallest number of trial and errors, what can be
unlinked? I am prepared to try them one at a time, if really needed,
but if there is a way around...

Thanks again,
       Marco


-- 
Marco Fioretti                    mfioretti, at the server mclink.it
Fedora Core 3 for low memory      http://www.rule-project.org/

None can love freedom heartily but good men; the rest love not freedom
but license.                                               John Milton

[Michael A. Peters]

On Sun, 2005-06-12 at 19:01 +0200, M. Fioretti wrote:

>  
>  Thanks for the prompt answer. I will experiment as you suggest, but
>  what did you exactly mean with the "build in mach" bit above? I
>  understand the rest of your message, but that piece of sentence
>  confused me... 
mach is a tool for building clean rpm's in a chrooted environment.
It will setup a basic chroot with minimal build environment, then grab
only the build requires specified in the spec file (and their
dependencies), and then build the rpm.

It's a great way to catch missing build requires, and make sure your
package only links against what you want it to link against.

>  
>  Related question: is there anything I could read to understand a
>  priori, with the smallest number of trial and errors, what can be
>  unlinked? I am prepared to try them one at a time, if really needed,
>  but if there is a way around... 
unpack the tarball - and run

./configure --help

You should get a list that gives you a good idea of what is optional and
what is not.
Sometimes the readme gives a bare minimum.
Also - google for Linux From Scratch - and BLFS
The BLFS guide (beyond linux from scratch) sometimes has exactly listed
what is required and what is optional.