Get KDE Software on Your Linux Distro

KDE Software includes Plasma, KDE Applications, KDE Frameworks and much more.

It is available with almost every Linux distro and increasingly in cross-distro packages.

Install KDE software page lists tools to use to install the software on many distros.

Cross Distro Packages

AppImage Packages

AppImages allows you as user to get the latest version (or any version) of the software you need directly from its author and run it on your GNU/Linux distribution (almost any distribution). You only have to download the AppImage file, make it executable and run it.

KDE apps with AppImages:

• Krita is professional painting program.
• Kdenlive is a Non-Linear Video Editor.
• KDevelop is a cross-platform IDE for C, C++, Python, QML/JavaScript and PHP.

Flatpak Packages

You can find latest stable releases of many KDE software on Flathub.

You can find some information on nightly builds and how to develop targetting flatpak at Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Flatpak.

Snap Packages

KDE Snap packages work on most Linux distros and are built by the KDE neon project.

Distro Packages

Arch Linux

Arch Linux provides the latest stable KDE Frameworks, Plasma and Applications packages in the [extra] repository. See the Arch Wiki for installation instructions.

Beta releases are available in the [kde-unstable] repository.

AOSC OS

• AOSC OS provides this version of KDE Applications in the community repository

AOSC OS provides the newest KDE Applications, Frameworks and Plasma packages in its main repository (pre-configured for official releases). Users can get updates to the newest KDE Plasma and KF5 components as soon as they are made public.

Users can also get newest pre-configured KDE releases from the AOSC OS release directory.

Chakra

Chakra provides KDE software packages in our official repositories. Plasma is the default desktop environment on our live media.

Debian

Plasma 5 packages are provided as part of the main Debian repository. The current stable release, Debian 9, codename Stretch, provides Plasma 5.8 and Applications 16.08. More recent versions are available in Debian's Unstable and Testing repositories. Plasma can be installed during initial Debian installation by selecting task-kde-desktop in the installer or installed in an existing Debian system by installing the kde-standard package.

Exherbo Linux

We currently provide Plasma 5 packages (usually the latest stable release) in the kde repository. They can easily be installed with the help of the plasma set:

# cave resolve plasma*

We also offer packages for beta releases or packages tracking master, but you'll need to unmask them:

# echo 'plasma pre-release' >> /etc/paludis/package_unmask.conf

or

# echo 'plasma scm' >> /etc/paludis/package_unmask.conf

respectively.

Fedora

Supported Fedora releases get Plasma updates as soon as possible. Keep your Fedora installation updated and you are good to go.

See https://apps.fedoraproject.org/packages/plasma-workspace for details on the progress of Plasma updates.

Gentoo Linux

Applications release ebuilds are available in the main repository. See the Gentoo wiki KDE article for general information.

Applications stable and master branch ebuilds are available in the supplemental KDE development ebuild repository.

KaOS

Plasma 5 is the default option and all installs automatically run the latest Plasma 5 release. Regularly updated ISO images are available on the Download Page

KDE neon

KDE neon builds all the latest KDE software

• User Edition contains builds from latest releases
• Developer Unstable edition contains builds from latest Git in master branches
• Developer Stable edition contains builds from latest Git in stable branch including beta branches
• KDE neon Docker Images can be used to test different versions on any distro

Kubuntu

Kubuntu 18.04 LTS was released in April 2018 with Plasma 5.12.4 LTS. Plasma 5.12.5 is already available in updates PPA. 18.04 will be supported until April 2021.

Kubuntu 18.10 Cosmic Cuttlefish,includes Plasma 5.13.5. The live ISO is available for download, and Plasma 5.14.3 can be installed via the Kubuntu backports PPA. Support until July 2019.

Kubuntu 16.04 LTS was released with Plasma 5.5.3. Then, you can upgrade to 5.8.9 via backports. Support until April 2019.

Kubuntu KCI provides the latest from KDE git. Add ppa:kubuntu-ci/unstable for testing. WARNING: Do not use on production systems. Ensure that you have ppa-purge installed in case you must roll back to your previous state. Zero guarantees that will fix a broken system.

Mageia

Mageia Cauldron is updated to new Qt, KDE Frameworks, Plasma Desktop and KDE Applications release almost as soon as they're released.

Plasma Desktop is one of the default desktops in Mageia. You can it on your hard disk or try it from the system.

OpenMandriva

OpenMandriva Cooker is updated to new Qt, KDE Frameworks, Plasma Desktop and KDE Applications releases as soon as they're released.

The latest OpenMandriva release version gets backports of new KDE software after it has been tested in Cooker for a while, and is usually a few weeks behind Cooker in updating.

Plasma Desktop is the default desktop in OpenMandriva. You do not need to run any extra commands to install it.

openSUSE

openSUSE Tumbleweed

openSUSE Tumbleweed is a rolling release distribution and so the latest KDE software is directly available after release and openQA testing. Just keep your system up-to-date.

openSUSE Leap

openSUSE Leap is focused on stability, so does not continuously update the software to later releases. For each release of Leap, the latest stable (LTS, if available) version of software is picked (Leap 42.2/42.3: Plasma 5.8 and Leap 15.x: Plasma 5.12). Bugfixes and other backports arrive as patch packages.

Additional package repositories

By adding additional repositories maintained by the KDE packaging team you can get the latest beta/rc/stable releases and git master builds of Applications, Plasma and other software on both Leap and Tumbleweed.

Slackware

You can get Plasma 5 packages for Slackware-current from Alien BOB's repository. These packages will replace KDE 4 if you have installed that. Read all about it on Eric's blog

Other Unixes

As well as Linux our software also work on other Unixes.

FreeBSD

You can get a modern KDE Desktop by installing one of the following meta-ports depending on how much you want:

Install Plasma5 meta-port

# pkg install plasma5-plasma

Install Plasma5 and KDE Applications

# pkg install kde5

Alternatively you can point your desired ports builder at

x11/plasma5-plasma

or

x11/kde5