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 works with every distribution that supports AppStream (e.g. Ubuntu, Debian, ArchLinux, openSUSE, Red Hat, Fedora). If you want more info about Discover, visit the Discover page.

Searching for KDE in Discover.

openSUSE - YaST

Along with Discover, openSUSE comes with its own software management tool, YaST Software Management.

Search for YaST Software Management in the application launcher. Open YaST 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 by the package name or the package description. 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. Some apps like Krita and KStars are available in the Windows Store.

From the command line

If you find that using a graphical 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. To find out what commands you can use to search for packages on your system: Find your distribution's package manager below, open a console, and append --help to the name of your distribution's package manager. As an example, dnf --help will list the commands you can use for Fedora, but there are many and they 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-based distributions like Manjaro, you can install software using the pacman utility. For example, to install KWrite you will open a console and enter the command sudo pacman -S kwrite.

Solus

Most KDE software is already installed on the Plasma edition. You can use eopkg to install, update, and remove software packages on any Solus edition. For example, to install KWrite, which is included with the Kate package, you will open a console and enter sudo eopkg it kate. Other useful commands can be found on the Solus Package Management page.