SonicDE Hard Fork for Fedora and EL10 Is Being Tested

Some time ago, I built RPM packages of SonicDE for EL10 (Enterprise Linux 10). They can be found in this repository: https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/g/SonicDE/SonicDE-EL10

This was not a complete rebuild of all SonicDE packages, but rather the most important packages needed to get a KDE Plasma/SonicDE X11 session up and running. This also meant that it depended on which version of KDE Plasma was available in EPEL.

What does it mean that KDE has now been hard-forked?

It means that SonicDE has become an independent project that can be built independently of KDE. I have therefore managed to build the latest version of SonicDE—version 6.7.4 at the time of writing—for EL10.

The source code currently being tested can be found on my Forgejo instance in a test branch called hardfork: https://pc-rytteren.dk/forge/anders/SonicDE-rpmspecs/src/branch/hardfork

Once the packages have been tested and I know that they work, they will be merged into my master branch. The packages will then be published in a new repository on Fedora COPR—this time for both Fedora and EL.

Why SonicDE?

If you are interested in using a KDE fork that will continue to be developed and improved, while focusing exclusively on X11 rather than Wayland, then SonicDE is probably the right choice for you.

There can be many reasons why someone might want to remain on X11—for example, because Wayland does not work properly for their needs.

Here at PC-Rytteren, it is important to be able to provide remote support, which is not possible on Wayland using common tools such as AnyDesk, RustDesk, and TeamViewer.

Therefore, I have chosen to focus on X11, as I believe that it provides the best user experience for the individual user.