This is the last update in this particular KDE series

Nov 12, 2014 19:11 GMT  ·  By

The KDE Project developers have updated the 4.14.x version for Applications and Platform and they are now ready to close this branch.

KDE Applications and Platform 4.14.3 is actually the last update for this particular branch. It's been planned for a long time and it will most certainly get implemented in most of the important repositories and Linux distributions. It still comes with the old Plasma implementation (it's basically the current one that can be found on most KDE-powered OSes), so it's very likely that some users will hang on to this version for as long as possible.

This particular branch is the last one because the project has been decoupled into KDE Frameworks 5, KDE Plasma, and KDE Applications. The entire system is now much more modular and the devs won't have to follow the same version number, so there will be some misunderstandings in the future. Some conflicts have surfaced already, but they will be dealt with soon enough.

What's new in KDE 4.14.3

"Today KDE released updates for its Applications and Development Platform, the third in a series of monthly stabilization updates to the 4.14 series. This release contains only bugfixes and translation updates, providing a safe and pleasant update for everyone. More than 50 recorded bugfixes include improvements to E-Mail client KMail, Umbrello UML Modeller, the document viewer Okular, the RSS application Akregator, the file manager Dolphin and more," note the devs in the announcement.

"Some Linux/UNIX OS vendors have kindly provided binary packages of 4.14.3 for some versions of their distribution, and in other cases community volunteers have done so. Additional binary packages, as well as updates to the packages now available, may become available over the coming weeks."

Users will also notice that Plasma Workspaces 4.11.14 has been integrated by default, but it only comes with a security fix. On the other hand, the entire KDE suite has received quite a few changes and improvements, like working video previews, the automount no longer fails, the password manager has been improved, the KMail application has been refined, and some memory leaks have been corrected.

Where to get it

More details about the changes, fixes, and new features of this build can be found in the official announcement. Also, you can download the latest KDE Applications and Development Platform 4.14.3 sources right now from the official website, but bear in mind that KDE 4.14.x is already implemented in a dozen or so of Linux distributions, so it's very likely that this update will land in repos in the next few days.

KDE 4.14.x (5 Images)

KDE 4.14.x in action
KDE 4.14.x launcherKDE 4.14.x in action
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