KDE Linux and PIM

Brainstorm
1

Hi all!

I tried KDE Linux on my laptop hoping to reduce the burden of maintaining it (even if it usually takes no effort), helping KDE with bug reports and simplifying my use of the system.

Unfortunately, I hit a wall: PIM applications. These are my findings:

  • Individual PIM applications are not available in Flathub: I needed to install the whole Kontact to get access to Kmail, while for calendars I want to use Merkuro. An user suggested that’s to avoid packaging Akonadi multiple times
  • Even when installing the whole Kontact, I cannot access Kmail alone. I have another pc with Fedora KDE and there Kontact is installed, but I can access (and find in the applications list) Kmail as a standalone program. I know that Kontact is made to collect the various PIM applications, but I prefer using them as standalone programs. Could this be due to the way things are packaged? I think I installed both Kontact and Kmail (from another source? Maybe Fedora Flatpaks), but Kmail is not available alone in Flathub
  • This might need a bug report and additional information, but I couldn’t interact with Google reliably: in Kmail in Kontact I found no option for Gmail; in Korganizer in Kontact I was able to add my Google Calendars but I don’t see it in the calendars list.

These for me are stoppers: I need a smooth experience with PIM. I was forced to use the web interface of my Nextcloud and Google Calendar to obtain something.

I remember reading something regarding packaging Akonadi by itself so that it’s shared across programs in KDE Linux. Does anyone know about it?

2

I think we discussed this before, but Fedora Flatpaks doesn’t provide a standalone Kmail - it just provides Kontact, like Flathub does.

Could be you installed the RPM of Kmail in Fedora?

3

I think so.

Doesn’t Kontact provide launchers for the individual components? I think Merkuro does.

4

I don’t know. But a Flatpak can do so in principle, e.g. LibreOffice is a single Flatpak, but you get separate menu entries for Writer, Calc etc etc.

5

At least Flatpak is currently limited and can’t easily either “import” or “export” service sockets.

So the only way to have a shared service is to package all apps into one Flatpak.

Ideally the host system would run the service and expose it to the sandbox so that Flatpak could package each app individually and they would still access the same data.

Obviously also easier to Plasma itself to access data that is on the host system, e.g. calendar in digital clock.

Similar to how it is done on mobile OSes like Android

1 Like
6

I did not check. Is the calendare unavailable to the Clock widget given that Akonadi is packaged insid the Kontact Flatpak?

7

I haven’t tried such a setup myself but this would be my guess, yes

8

Maybe we are getting some action on this: KDE for Enterprise Needs a Strong PIM Infrastructure - ervin

Given the recent push for KDE Linux to be a valid OS and this focus on the PIM infrastructure, I very much hope that this matter will be solved: Akonadi needs to work as a base for many applications and widgets, but Flatpaks of the PIM suites are very isolated and they each come with their own Akonadi infrastructure, and the shell in KDE Linux doesn’t come wit, its own Akonadi implementation.

9

My understanding is that improving the ability to package Akonadi-based KDE PIM apps in modern containerized formats is on the menu here!