Over a month after its previous 6.10 release, KDE announced the launch of Frameworks 6.11, expanding its collection of addon libraries to Qt and enhancing functionality available to developers across various platforms.
One noticeable trend in 6.11 is the introduction of XML/YAML linting across multiple libraries such as Attica, Baloo, Bluez Qt, Extra CMake Modules, and many others.
Additionally, support for linux-qt6-next builds is now more widespread than ever. Most frameworks, from KArchive to Sonnet, have added or improved CI (Continuous Integration) pipelines that specifically test against Qt 6.6+ and Linux distributions.
Developers who rely on Python bindings will appreciate that several frameworks—including KCoreAddons, KGuiAddons, KNotifications, and KWidgetsAddons—now enable or refine Python bindings on FreeBSD.
Moreover, the minimum Python requirement in some components has been lowered to version 3.9, making these libraries more accessible for systems that have not yet upgraded to Python 3.10 or newer.
Apart from those mentioned above, the following changes are also worth mentioning:
- Breeze Icons: Users can now enjoy a 12×12 version of the open-link icon, black X symbols for the close icon, and a more consistent synergy between related symbolic icons.
- KColorScheme: Dark theme enthusiasts will find that Breeze Dark just got darker, providing richer contrast. The framework also solves issues related to writing default color scheme values.
- KIO: File manager fans benefit from a handy Move into New Folder drag-and-drop plugin, plus additional improvements to file-dialog usability and symlink path resolution.
- KImageformats: Significant work was done to support new formats and refine metadata handling. This includes advanced JPEG 2000 support, native CMYK handling in JXL, plus updates to PSD and RAW plugin behavior for better metadata writing.
- Kirigami: There are improvements to keyboard navigation (for example, in SwipeListItem), subtle UI tweaks to items like UrlButton, and enhanced icon consistency when external links are used.
Lastly, an impressive list of bug fixes is scattered across frameworks like KCrash, KDav, KGuiAddons, KIO, and KTextEditor. In particular, KTextEditor now offers an option to disable “cycle through bookmarks,” plus better handling of symlinks. KIconThemes focuses on thread safety in icon loading, ensuring UI elements remain responsive even under heavy load.
For those interested in getting hands-on with KDE Frameworks 6.11, the software is available for download on KDE’s official website. On Linux, the recommended approach is to install binary packages from your distribution’s repositories.
Visit the official release announcement for more detailed information about KDE Frameworks 6.11, including a full list of updates and bug fixes.
