TL;DR
A long-term contributor who became the KDE Developer Platform docs maintainer says onboarding documentation has been significantly improved. They documented fixes across KXmlGui, Kirigami and Flatpak guides, created style guidance, and continue working on remaining gaps such as a CMake tutorial.
What happened
An active KDE contributor who began making documentation changes in 2021 and later joined KDE as a documentation contractor in late 2023 says they now effectively maintain the KDE Developer Platform docs and hold the largest number of commits in that repository. Over several years they repaired and expanded key tutorials and guides: making KXmlGui pages functional with screenshots and build instructions, clarifying Flatpak manifests, and undertaking a substantial cleanup of the Kirigami tutorial to restore buildability and improve links. The author also produced formatting and style guidance for the Develop area, attempted a CMake tutorial that was later closed, and ported KTimeTracker to Qt6 as part of their learning. A very large merge request on Kirigami (185 threads and 131 changes) led to some burnout, but the contributor reports onboarding docs are now in a much better state.
Why it matters
- Buildable, coherent tutorials reduce friction for new developers trying to compile and run KDE projects.
- Improved links, screenshots and concrete build steps make documentation more actionable for contributors.
- Having an identified maintainer with frequent commits helps keep onboarding materials current and prevent regressions.
- Style and formatting guidance promotes consistency across developer-facing docs, easing navigation and learning.
Key facts
- The contributor began touching KDE docs in 2021 and became a documentation contractor in late 2023.
- They started officially working on KDE development onboarding docs in 2024.
- They report being the docs maintainer and holding the largest number of commits in the Developer Platform repository.
- KXmlGui documentation was fixed to be functional, including screenshots and build instructions.
- Flatpak documentation was clarified, including explanations for JSON manifest syntax.
- A major Kirigami cleanup was produced in a single large merge request comprising 185 threads and 131 changes.
- The author created formatting and style guides for the Develop documentation area.
- A CMake tutorial was started but later closed and remains unfinished.
- The author ported KTimeTracker to Qt6 during their development learning process.
What to watch next
- Whether the unfinished CMake tutorial will be resumed and published (not confirmed in the source).
- Ongoing maintenance and smaller housekeeping edits in the Develop docs area (not confirmed in the source).
- Further improvements or follow-up merge requests addressing Kirigami or other tutorials (not confirmed in the source).
Quick glossary
- KDE: A community and ecosystem that produces free and open-source desktop software, libraries and frameworks.
- Kirigami: A QML toolkit and set of components designed to help build convergent and mobile-friendly KDE applications.
- KXmlGui: A C++ framework used in KDE to build application windows and to provide standard menus, settings and UI behaviors.
- CMake: A cross-platform build system generator used to control the software compilation process via configuration files.
- Flatpak: A system for building, distributing and running sandboxed desktop applications on Linux.
Reader FAQ
Who led the recent onboarding documentation work?
The author of the source describes themselves as the maintainer of the Developer Platform docs and the contributor with the most commits.
Are all onboarding tutorials now complete and error-free?
Some major tutorials were fixed (KXmlGui, Kirigami, Flatpak), but the CMake tutorial was started and later closed, so not all gaps are resolved.
Did the contributor work for KDE in an official capacity?
Yes — they applied as a KDE documentation contractor in late 2023 and began official work on onboarding docs in 2024.
Are there published metrics showing improved onboarding outcomes?
not confirmed in the source
KDE onboarding is good now Table of Contents A bit of my history My KDE docs history My new job working for KDE The current state of KDE onboarding docs…
Sources
- KDE onboarding is good now
- Update onboarding instructions – Development
- Documentation Improvements in KDE
- The Documentation Strategy That Onboards Developers in …
Related posts
- Why The Great Gatsby Became the World’s Most Misunderstood Novel
- SQLNet: A Twitter-like social network where you use SQL to interact
- Developing a BLAS Library for the AMD AI Engine — MSc Thesis, 2026