[Desktop] KDE Plasma 6.6.5 available in Kubuntu Backports

[Schwarzer Kater]

Above-mentioned updates for our preferred desktop environment are availabe for Kubuntu 26.04 LTS in the Kubuntu Backports PPA.

Thank you very much to the Kubuntu developers for providing this!



Link to the changelog for KDE Plasma 6.6.5:
https://kde.org/announcements/change...6/6.6.4-6.6.5/



The Kubuntu Backports PPA contains "backports of new versions of KDE Platform, Plasma and Applications as well as major KDE apps for Kubuntu."

You can find the instructions how to add the Kubuntu Backports PPA directly on the website (Kubuntu Backports PPA), but here they are again:

Open the Konsole terminal emulator and enter

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
  (and confirm the addition with [Return])
• sudo apt update

After this any future updates that the Kubuntu Backports PPA provide for your Kubuntu 26.04 LTS will be automatically installed when you update your system.

So now you can install the new packages e.g. by entering

• sudo apt full-upgrade

and afterwards

• reboot

As always I strongly recommend that you have prepared some way to revert your system to a previous state if something goes wrong, e.g.:

One can use ppa-purge (installed by default in Kubuntu 26.04 LTS) to get rid of the Kubuntu Backports' packages again.
Or use a Timeshift system backup.
Or use LVM/ext4 with snapshots or btrfs with snapshots as your file system.
Or use a Clonezilla volume backup.
Or …

[Elliot Alderson]

Despite advice to the contrary, it seems rude not to "like" and thank you for this information.

[maddruid]

Thank you for the tip. I can now use my external monitor again in Wayland.

[barfly]

Just as well I backed up first. I use qt-fsarchiver, and had to restore the backup. The first thing I noticed was my Firefox profile had been replaced, rendering Firefox not starting. I tried editing the profiles, but Firefox stubbornly refused to start, just the usual Firefox is already running, or profiles stuffed notice. I called a halt then, in case other problems came to light down the track.

So did not work for me. Kudos to all the devs who work so hard on Kubuntu, my thanks.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Strange…
Firefox should not have been touched in any way by a KDE Plasma update…

Firefox as a Snap, a Flatpak, installed from the Mozilla repos or installed in /opt?

There can be two places where Firefox (non-Snap/Flatpak) stores the settings/profiles:
~.mozilla/firefox/ (old)
and/or
~./config/mozilla/firefox/ (new)
Perhaps this can help - but this also has nothing to do with KDE Plasma itself…

[barfly]

Strange…
Firefox should not have been touched in any way by a KDE Plasma update…

Firefox as a Snap, a Flatpak, installed from the Mozilla repos or installed in /opt?

There can be two places where Firefox (non-Snap/Flatpak) stores the settings/profiles:
~.mozilla/firefox/ (old)
and/or
~./config/mozilla/firefox/ (new)
Perhaps this can help - but this also has nothing to do with KDE Plasma itself…

No snaps no flatpacks anywhere near my systems. Firefox installed from the PPA via a .deb file as is Thunderbird. The reason I have no snaps is the convoluted hoops to try to get the snap Thunderbird to work from my separate storage email repository with over a terabyte of emails going back to 1989. I just could never get it to work and believe me I tried - for hours.
I know exactly where Firefox and Thunderbird store their profiles, I stuffed about with them until nothing worked - gave up and restored from my qt-fsarchiver backup.

I'll wait until there is another update and try that, in the meantime I have everything running well on Resolute - the guys have done a great job with it - absolutely love Kubuntu.

[wonder]

Above-mentioned updates for our preferred desktop environment are availabe for Kubuntu 26.04 LTS in the Kubuntu Backports PPA.

Thank you very much to the Kubuntu developers for providing this!



Link to the changelog for KDE Plasma 6.6.5:
https://kde.org/announcements/change...6/6.6.4-6.6.5/



The Kubuntu Backports PPA contains "backports of new versions of KDE Platform, Plasma and Applications as well as major KDE apps for Kubuntu."

You can find the instructions how to add the Kubuntu Backports PPA directly on the website (Kubuntu Backports PPA), but here they are again:

Open the Konsole terminal emulator and enter

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
  (and confirm the addition with [Return])
• sudo apt update

After this any future updates that the Kubuntu Backports PPA provide for your Kubuntu 26.04 LTS will be automatically installed when you update your system.

So now you can install the new packages e.g. by entering

• sudo apt full-upgrade

and afterwards

• reboot

As always I strongly recommend that you have prepared some way to revert your system to a previous state if something goes wrong, e.g.:

One can use ppa-purge (installed by default in Kubuntu 26.04 LTS) to get rid of the Kubuntu Backports' packages again.
Or use a Timeshift system backup.
Or use LVM/ext4 with snapshots or btrfs with snapshots as your file system.
Or use a Clonezilla volume backup.
Or …

Thanks for the info.

I just installed it and for now, I'm still using X11. I haven't found a solution to the problem that when I restart and have multiple browser instances open (not Firefox), only one instance opens when I return. I don't know if this "problem" is due to Wayland or KDE 6... I tried Wayland in the past and I don't think I remember this problem.

It's too early to assess the other "minor issues" I'm encountering with 26.04.

We're still analyzing whether to migrate to 26.04 now or wait a while longer on 24.04.

Regards,

[Schwarzer Kater]

You are welcome.


off topic:

[…] that when I restart and have multiple browser instances open (not Firefox), only one instance opens when I return. I don't know if this "problem" is due to Wayland or KDE 6... I tried Wayland in the past and I don't think I remember this problem.

It's too early to assess the other "minor issues" I'm encountering with 26.04.

We're still analyzing whether to migrate to 26.04 now or wait a while longer on 24.04.
Regards,

Perhaps open a new thread for this?

Does this occcur in Kubuntu 26.04 with Plasma 6.6.5 only or also in Plasma 6.6.4 (without Backports)?
Did you try bonus step d. in "Kubuntu 26.04 LTS - important things to do after an installation" to turn Session Restore off first, then log out/reboot and then turn it on again (to quickly clear the according preference settings/caches)?
- If I even correctly understood what you meant by "…when I return."

I don't install/ugrade to Kubuntu 26.04 LTS on other people's production systems until 26.04.1 has been released (personally I already use two of my PCs with Kubuntu 26.04 - roughly 90% X11 and 10% Wayland).
Production systems still get Kubuntu 24.04.x LTS from me at the moment (currently two in the making).
Non-production systems already get Kubuntu 26.04 LTS from me on demand (one so far, pure X11 user, but two third of those users want Linux Mint or Zorin OS anyway, which is fine with me if it fits their needs…).