Farid Abdelnour on KDE Blogs

My Second Akademy

Farid Abdelnour — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:50:00 +0000

As usual, crossing the Atlantic is tough for me. I'm just too tall, and the seats are, well... just too small. Not to mention the stress of receiving a message on the day of the trip saying that my flight had been moved four hours earlier! I dropped everything I was doing and ran to the airport, only to dicover that it was a mistake in the "system". Add to that the delays and the the risk of missing the connection... Lufthansa did not play well this trip but everything worked out in the end!

My second Akademy was simply amazing. It was also more special beacause it was the KDE 30th anniversary edition. Unfortunately I did not get to try the Konqi cake.

I am very proud to be part of the KDE community - a welcoming, friendly, diverse and free group of people who are making the world a better place. I you ask me what is KDE in one word, I would say hope.

Camille, from the Kdenlive team, asked us to document our trip, so I did a short edit.

Habemus Champions

One of the highlights of my trip was to announce the new KDE Goals. This cycle, the community voted for:

KDE for Enterprise and Deployments - championed by: David Edmundson, Neal Gompa, and Kai Uwe Broulik
Better documentation - championed by: Nate Graham, Thiago Masato Costa Sueto, and Joseph P. De Veaugh-Geiss
Next Generation Styling for KDE - championed by: Arjen Hiemstra, Akseli Lahtinen, and Andy Betts

We are currently scheduling our kickoff meeting to get things organized. I am sure many of you are eager to contribute, so stay tuned for further news.

We also did a recap of the last cycle and handed the certificates of appreciation to the champions. Congrats to them, they really raised the bar!

My favorite accomplishments, in no particular order:

Improved graphics tablet support. This made it possible to switch all the computers at our studio to KDE Plasma. We are a 100% KDE studio now. We Care About Your Input goal
Plasma Keyboard. It was so cool to have seen this being born. We got a lot of community feedback and it will definitely be a cherry on top for Plasma. There are also many improvements and features coming. We Care About Your Input goal
Ship Kirigami via pip. This is something that is still in a very initial state, but there has been recent progress by a community member. Streamlined Application Development Experience goal
I love that KDE Mentorship now has a visual identity and it is getting a new website. KDE Needs You goal
Beacon Program is a new mentorship program that I've been working to setup for ther last months. It is currrently entering a beta phase and will share more info soon. KDE Needs You goal

BOFs

I only got to participate in two BOFs.

The first was the Mentorships one hosted by Paul and Ansh, where I got to give a preview of the Beacon Program, the work that I've been building with universities for the last two semesters.

I also participated in Drunk KDE - Brand personality of KDE hosted by Aniqa and Kieryn. Boy that was a fun one! We got to think about KDE's branding and it contemplated lot's of issues that need to be worked on. Aniqa is compiling all our input and we'll hopefully get things moving afterwards.

Kdenlive at Akademy

The second highlight was getting together with the Kdenlive crew. Although it was a very quick, as most of the team stayed only for the weekend, we managed to get a lot done. We organized future sprints, started planning our upcoming fundraising campaign, discussed some promo tasks, and we even finally managed to merge the features section of the Kdenlive home page.

We also did a lot of testing and UX brainstorming for the upcoming keyframe timeline.

Unfortunately, for most of the trip, Jean-Baptiste was under the weather, so Julius and I had to fill in for his talk.

Graz

I loved Graz, Austria's second largest city. It is so welcoming and chill. I bought a weekly transport pass but ended up using it so little... did a lot of walking.

I was happy that I got to do some last minute sightseeing before catching the plane back home. After all the clock tower and the mountains were the inspiration for this year's edition.

A nice surprise was the Steirisches Backhendl served at TU Graz was just delicious. Styrian fried chicken (in pumpkin seed oil) served with a tangy potato salad and lingonberry jam.

Behind the scenes

This was my second Akademy, not only as a participant but also part of the organizing team.

We've been meeting religiously every Tuesday to organize this edition. Each time with different background lights from Harald's streaming setup.

All the graphics of this edition were made using free software programs like Inkscape for the general graphics creation, Scribus to export the PDF for printing, Blender for the intro graphics animations, and Kdenlive for video editing.

Also a HUGE shoutout to the CCC Video Operation Center (C3VOC) team. I really hope that we have consolidated this partership with them and can continue partnering with them for future Akademies. Speaking of which, the call for hosts is still open.

Lot's of luv to the beautiful, lean, mean Akademy-making team who put together such a fantastic edition. Can't wait for the next one with you all.

Some of the team. <3

KDE Goals - Last Call For Submissions

Farid Abdelnour — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:17:00 +0000

Last chance to submit your KDE Goals proposal

The call for submissions for the next KDE Goals cycle closes tomorrow, August 8.

As of the time of writing we've received nineteen proposals, covering a variety of topics like enterprise, gaming, personal well-being, documentation, accessibility, semantic desktops, color management, design, user experience, mobile and more.

Current proposals (by order of submission):

Join in

If any of the proposals above spark your interest, then by all means join the effort as a co-champion or contributor. And if you don't feel inspired by any, then there is still time to submit your own and champion a new KDE Goal.

Remember that you do not have to be a developer to participate. Read the selection process carefully before you send your proposal. If you have any doubts, join our Matrix room or create a topic at the KDE forum.

What's Next?

Once the submission period is over, we'll move into the refinement phase, where champions and the community work together to polish their proposals and finalize them so they're elligible for voting.

Timeline:

Call for submissions - June 19 to August 8
Refinement of proposals - August 9 to August 27
Voting period - August 28 to September 11
Tallying & preparation - September 12 to September 18
Announcement at Akademy - September 19

KDE Goals - Call For Submissions

Farid Abdelnour — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 03:20:00 +0000

In 2015, some members of the KDE community began a conversation about where KDE was heading and how it would get there. That conversation became the seed of what is now KDE Goals - a community initiative to help guide KDE's efforts around shared objectives.

KDE Goals reaches its fifth cycle at a special milestone: KDE turns thirty this year. Thirty years of building software that puts people in control of their digital lives and enjoy freedom and privacy. The fourth cycle brought three goals that built toward this vision. Streamlined Application Development Experience focused on making KDE development smoother and more joyful. We Care About Your Input aimed to deliver a seamless out-of-the-box experience for input devices used by artists, gamers, and people with accessibility needs. KDE Needs You! worked on building a sustainable community growth targeting individuals and institutions alike. Checkout the one-year recap at Akademy last year.

Now, as that cycle draws to a close and launches us into the next upward spiral, it is time once again to ask: what matters most to KDE right now? What should the community rally behind for the next two years?

The floor is open. Dream big. The fifth cycle begins!

Join in

Anyone passionate about KDE and has a vision to share is welcome to submit a proposal. You do not have to be a developer to participate.

Read the selection process carefully before you send your proposal. Got any doubts? Join our Matrix room or leave a comment at the KDE forum.

Timeline

Call for submissions - June 20 to August 8
Refinement of proposals - August 9 to August 27
Voting period - August 28 to September 11
Tallying and preparation - September 12 to September 18
Announcement at Akademy - September 19

API documentation porting sprint

Farid Abdelnour — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It was once said over the grapevine that: "Our C++ API documentation has some issues, our QML API documentation has a lot of issues."

And it was true, but that is to change soon! As you might know, there is an ongoing effort to port our documentation from Doxygen to QDoc, and you can help with that.

This is a task that has been adopted by the Streamlined Application Development Experience championed by Nicolas Fella and Nate Graham as part of the KDE Goals initiative.

We would like to invite you to join our porting sprint effort to finish this task. On November 14th at 1PM UTC, we'll be hanging out in the Matrix room working on this. Hope to see you there.

Some prerequisites:

Ability to use a terminal
Extra disk space (30GB minimum)
Some familiarity with APIs

Check out the instructions prepared by Thiago Sueto on how to get started porting a project to QDoc.

KDE Goals - A New Cycle Begins

Farid Abdelnour — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The KDE community has charted its course for the coming years, focusing on three interconnected paths that converge on a single point: community. These paths aim to improve user experience, support developers, and foster community growth.

Streamlined Application Development Experience

This goal focuses on improving the application development process. By making it easier for developers to create applications, KDE hopes to attract more contributors and deliver better software for both first-party and third-party applications. A notable task within this goal is enhancing the experience of building KDE apps with languages beyond C++, such as Rust or Python.

Champions: Nicolas Fella and Nate Graham

We care about your Input

KDE has a diverse users base with unique input needs: artists using complex monitor and drawing tablet setups; gamers with controllers, fancy mice, and handhelds; users requiring accessibility features or using a language optimally types with complex input methods; students with laptops, 2-in-1s, and tablets — and more! While KDE has made significant progress in supporting these diverse sources of input over the years, there are still gaps to be addressed. This goal aims to close those gaps and deliver a truly seamless input experience for everyone.

Champions: Gernot Schiller, Jakob Petsovits and Joshua Goins

KDE Needs You! 🫵

KDE’s growth depends on new contributors, but a lack of fresh involvement in key projects like Plasma, Kdenlive, Krita, GCompris, and others is a concern. This goal focuses on formalizing and enhancing recruitment processes, not just for individuals but also for institutions. Ensuring that bringing in new talent becomes a continuous and community-wide priority, vital for KDE's long-term sustainability.

Champions: Aniqa Khokhar, Johnny Jazeix and Paul Brown

Join us!

Your voice, your code, and your ideas are what will shape the KDE of tomorrow — whether you're a user, developer, or contributor. Let’s go on this journey together and make these goals a reality!

Join the Matrix room and keep an eye on the website for the latest KDE Goals updates.

KDE Goals - Our Cumulative Culture

Farid Abdelnour — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Every two years, the KDE community selects three goals that serve as focal points for the entire community's efforts in the coming years. This cyclical process of goal-setting and community-wide focus is a great example of KDE's Cumulative Culture in action.

This concept, typically observed in human societies, refers to the ability to build upon previous knowledge and innovations to create increasingly complex and effective solutions. In KDE's case, each cycle of goals represents a new layer of accumulated wisdom, i.e. new features and more stability.

The First Cycle (2018-2020)

The first cycle of goals laid the groundwork with its focus on community growth, privacy, and usability.

Streamlined Onboarding: Focused on attracting and retaining new contributors by making the onboarding process smoother and more engaging.
Privacy Software: Prioritized user privacy and security, ensuring KDE software respects user data and complies with security standards.
Usability & Productivity: Aimed to enhance the usability and productivity of KDE software, making it powerful yet easy to use.

The Second Cycle (2020-2022)

The second cycle tackled more complex challenges. Goals like Wayland implementation improvements (which layed the foundation for the Plasma 6 release), improving the app ecosystem, and ensuring consistency in design and functionality.

Wayland: This task aimed at stabilizing Wayland support accross KDE apps.
All About the Apps: Improved KDE's app infrastructure, enabling more efficient app delivery and better support services.
Improve Consistency across the Board: Ensured uniformity in design and functionality across KDE software, improving usability and reducing redundancy.

The Third Cycle (2022-2024)

The third cycle, which is currently coming to an end, was about progress and adaptation. A focus to include environmental responsibility, operational efficiency, and inclusive design.

Sustainable Software: Focused on making KDE software more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly by implementing practices that reduce resource consumption and ensure long-term sustainability.
Automate and Systematize Internal Processes: Aimed to streamline KDE’s internal workflows by automating repetitive tasks, adding code tests across projects and creating a Quality Assurance team to name a few.
KDE For All: Seeked to make KDE software accessible and inclusive for all users.

A New Cycle A Comin' (2024-2026)

Now, as we enter the fourth cycle of the KDE Goals, we see the full power of this cumulative process. Each goal, whether fully achieved or not, contributes to the collective knowledge and capability of the KDE community. Ideas and partial solutions from past cycles become a solid foundation of knowledge and experience that support future efforts.

The commmunity is currently voting on the following proposals for the next KDE Goals cycle that will guide our efforts and shape our focus for the coming years:

KDE Goals at Akademy

The three most voted goals will be announced at Akademy, where there will also be a wrap-up talk about the achievements of the current goals. Also, there will be Birds-of-a-feather (BoF) sessions with the new goal champions.

Join the Matrix room and keep an eye on the website for the latest KDE Goals updates.