I unfortunately searched in this forum for problems like mine.
As I could not see any of my complains, I guess it to be time to post them myself.
Motivation )
As anyone, I want to taste KDE 3.5 sooner as possible.
Environment )
I have a modest Semprom 2200, 1GB ram, 60 GB hd, Mandriva 2006 rc2 with no much modifications.
Conduct )
First I tried "konstruct", then I tried "kdesvn-build" and, finally, tried Thac´s RPMS.
Several ways each, course.
None gave them aimed results.
Trouble )
i- Konstruct builded and instaled perfectly. In my first try, I set my kde base dir to "/usr/local/kde-3.5rc1".
Restarting KDE, though, I saw error messages like "can´t find your settings" while starting my apps and the configuration dialogs came all empty.
Strange that logging as root, the first one did not happen, while the later did.
ii- kdesvn-build could not build some mainless targets such kdebase. I couldn´t find out why. Manual compilation over the svn code did not succeed, also.
iii- Thac's RPMS where tried as "urpmi" source, where lots of dependancy failures made me to give up.
iv- Back to Konstruct (again), I made a clean in my system, uninstaling ALL the Mandriva KDE and, now, setting the kde dirs to the same place where it once lived, /usr.
I had no settings problem, this way, but I still can´t see my configuration settings dialogs.
They all come in a pretty empty dialog.
v- Mandriva (or Mandrake if you whish) had allways some strange behaviour in my own sense.
I never got to make an upgrade by my own without troubles, but I always got to live with it. It seems to be some kind of "permission" question in the play.
I tell this because in the original instalation, things like acessing privileged things used to bring, automatically, a root password dialog that just fails now.
vi- I was happy with my old Linux instalation, where I fighted so much against the distribution that it gave up resisting me. Sadly I choosed to make a brand new installation with my new HD, and now I have no power anymore in my own system. It tires me...
Finally )
I forethank any good soul interessed in sharing this hard experience.
Any clues, suggestions, lessons, directions or oracle sites are very wellcome.