UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

cd /usr/pkgsrc/meta-pkgs/kf5
make package-install

5.7.2. KDE
KDE is another easy-to-use desktop environment. This desktop provides a suite of applications with a consistent look and feel, a standardized menu and toolbars, keybindings, color-schemes, internationalization, and a centralized, dialog-driven desktop configuration. More information on KDE can be found at http://www.kde.org/. For FreeBSD-specific information, consult http://freebsd.kde.org.

To install the KDE package, type:

# pkg install x11/kde5
To instead build the KDE port, use the following command. Installing the port will provide a menu for selecting which components to install. KDE is a large application and will take some time to compile, even on a fast computer.

# cd /usr/ports/x11/kde5
# make install clean
KDE requires /proc to be mounted. Add this line to /etc/fstab to mount this file system automatically during system startup:

proc           /proc       procfs  rw  0   0
KDE uses D-Bus and HAL for a message bus and hardware abstraction. These applications are automatically installed as dependencies of KDE. Enable them in /etc/rc.conf so they will be started when the system boots:

dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"
Since KDE Plasma 5, the KDE Display Manager, KDM is no longer developed. A possible replacement is SDDM. To install it, type:

# pkg install x11/sddm
Add this line to /etc/rc.conf:

sddm_enable="YES"
A second method for launching KDE Plasma is to type startx from the command line. For this to work, the following line is needed in ~/.xinitrc:

exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11
A third method for starting KDE Plasma is through XDM. To do so, create an executable ~/.xsession as follows:

% echo "exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11" > ~/.xsession
Once KDE Plasma is started, refer to its built-in help system for more information on how to use its various menus and applications.

exec ck-launch-session startplasma-x11