Tutorials/Install KDE software

Install KDE software

To install KDE software we recommend using the means of your distribution. Here is how you find your distribution's name and version.

Tip

When you see mono-spaced text on a gray background like this that is something that you need to type in, exactly as it appears there.

From the GUI

Discover

Discover is the KDE Software Center and work with all the distribution supporting AppStream (Ubuntu, Debian, Arch-Linux, OpenSUSE, Red Hat, Fedora, ...). If you want more info about discover, visit the discover page.

Searching for KDE in Discover.

openSUSE - YaST

In openSUSE, you have the choice between using discover and YaST software management tool.

You find openSUSE's package management tool in the Computer tab of the start menu. Open that and click on the Software management icon to start the package manager.

Searching for KDE in the YaST sofware management.

Use the search field to find the package that you wish to install; you can search on the package name or the package description, and you only need to enter part of the name. You will then be presented with a list of packages matching your search. Click the selection boxes for the packages to be installed and then click Accept. See this page for more on package management and openSUSE.

Windows Store

Some KDE applications are also available in the Windows Store. For example, you can buy Krita a digital painting software or KStars.

From the command line

If you find that using a package manager is unbearably slow, you will want to use command-line installation. This is much faster, but the disadvantage is that you need to know the exact name of the package you want to install. Each system has helpful commands for searching, for instance, so try using the first word of install command below, with --help appended. As an example, yum --help will list the commands you can use for Fedora, but they are many and can be confusing at first.

openSUSE

With openSUSE you install software using zypper for example to install KWrite you will open a console and enter zypper in kwrite.

Ubuntu

With Ubuntu Linux you install software using apt. For example to install KWrite you will open a console and enter sudo apt install kwrite

Fedora

Fedora uses dnf so to install KWrite you would open a console and type dnf install kwrite If you are unsure of the name of a package, you can use dnf list with wildcards to see all the packages with a word as part of the package name — for example dnf list *network* will list all available packages with "network" as part of the name. Casting even wider, dnf search mpeg will list all packages that either have mpeg in the name or in the description of the package.

Gentoo

With Gentoo you install software using emerge, e.g. for KWrite you would open a console and type emerge --ask kwrite (using --ask to get an overview of necessary dependencies and USE flag options before confirming). If you are unsure of the name of a package, you can use emerge --search to see all the packages with a word as part of the package name — e.g. emerge --search network will list all available packages with "network" as part of the name.

Mageia

You can use urpmi to install KDE software from a command line. Other useful commands can be found at Wikipedia's Urpmi page

OpenMandriva Lx

Most KDE software is installed already - you can use dnf to install additional packages. If you know what a package is called, you can use e.g. dnf --refresh install kwrite. If you don't know the package name, you can use dnf --refresh search '*kde*' to search (this example lists all packages that have "kde" as part of their name or description). You can also use discover or dnfdragora as graphical frontends to package installation.

Arch linux and Manjaro

With Arch linux and arch linux based distribution like Manjaro, you can install software using the pacman utility. For example to install KWrite you will open a console and enter sudo pacman -S kwrite