Install KDE 4.0 packages from the Debian experimental branchInstall KDE 4 Debian packages in your hard disk

Enabling the sid repository

KDE 4.0 requires some software that is not available in the Debian 4.0 "etch" release. Therefore, it can only be installed on systems using the testing & unstable branches.

Users of Debian testing (a.k.a. Lenny) must also add Debian unstable to their sources.list in order to meet the requirements of KDE 4.0.

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ sid main non-free contrib
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ sid main non-free contrib

You should replace ftp.de.debian.org by a mirror near you.

To enable unstable without upgrading your entire system, see this page.

Enabling the experimental branch

To install KDE 4.0, the experimental branch must be enabled. Add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list, then update APT.

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ experimental main non-free contrib
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ experimental main non-free contrib

You should replace ftp.de.debian.org by a mirror near you.

APT will not install packages from experimental unless specifically requested. To install a package from experimental, run the command:

aptitude -t experimental install package1 package2 package3...

KDE 4 packages

For a basic KDE 4 desktop, install the kde4-minimal package, which includes

kdebase-runtime Essential runtime components
kdebase-workspace Desktop environment
kdebase Core applications

For (almost) all of KDE 4, install the kde4 package, which also includes

extragear-plasma Additional Plasma applets
kdegraphics Graphics applications, including the Okular document viewer
kdegames Assortment of fun games
kdemultimedia Multimedia players and utilities
kdenetwork networking-related applications, such as the Kopete IM client
kdeutils General-purpose utilities
kdeedu Educational applications
kdeadmin System administration tools
kdeartwork Additional artwork and sound themes

Most users will also want to install kdm. There are still a couple of packages more:

kdetoys Desktop amusements
kdesdk Software development tools

Co-installable packages

You can co-install along your KDE 3 packages the following KDE 4 packages: kdelibs5, kdepimlibs5, kdebase-runtime

This is useful if you want to keep your KDE 3 enviroment but want to use a KDE 4 application like okular or even konsole. But remember KDE 4 apps will not integrate in your KDE 3 desktop so well as the current KDE 3 do.