new plasma-framework repo

On November 3, 2008 libplasma moved from kde-workspace to kdelibs sporting a spiffy API that used the new QGraphicsProxyWidget heavily.

In Randa this past summer we agreed on the last few big decisions for libplasma2. We would remove QGraphicsView and move entirely to QML. In the process, libplasma would have no drawing system dependent code in it. It would be data and business logic only.

The other day a new repository called plasma-framework was created for the  Frameworks 5 release and libplasma2 was added to it along with the relevant bits from kde-runtime. Today libplasma will be removed from the frameworks branch of kdelibs. 

The QML2 effort is making good progress, as can be seen in the anticlimactic screenshot below showing a QML containment loading a QML plasmoid in a QML2 view.

It's been quite the journey thus far, and the road stretches out before us yet.




The most wonderful thing about this is that once we're done, despite all the changes under the hood, you won't really notice much has changed just from using it. Well, other than the improved performance, I suppose.

For developers working with Plasma, this is a good time to start using QML if you haven't already. It will be a while yet before a release of Frameworks 5 is made, let alone a release of the Plasma Workspaces on top of that. This should give everyone time to migrate to QML in their own time without facing a last minute rush. Testing your QML work on top of the 4.x releases will help ensure a smooth transition when the time comes.