Going from kde5 to kde6
- Relevant to KDE/Plasma editions of PCLinuxOS.
Migrate an installation from KDE Plasma 5 to Plasma 6.
Introduction
All current PCLinuxOS ISO images ship with KDE/Plasma 6 as of July 2025. Users that currently have a KDE/Plasma 5 installation may wish to update to KDE/Plasma 6 without having to do a re-installation.
Texstar has released the instructions to do that:
Things to do before the upgrade
As part of preparations please do the following:
- Make sure to take a backup of your personal data in a safe place.
- Enable Timeshift so that you can have a snapshot of your existing system to come back to in case things do not end up as expected.
- Read and follow instructions exactly as given.
- For any help, approach the forum.
To ensure that there are least possible errors in the process:
- Reboot.
- Open a terminal Konsole and su to root.
- DO NOT open any application or do anything else after the computer has fully booted to the desktop.
Method of upgrade
Ensure system is fully updated
Type the following commands in the Konsole and wait for them to complete, then type the next command. To ensure accuracy, you may copy and paste the commands seen in the boxes below.
apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade
Install QT6 packages
KDE/Plasma 6 requires QT version 6 so make sure those packages are installed:
apt-get install task-qt6
Change repository config
Next you need to edit the repository configuration to disable the kde5 section and enable the kde6 section. If you have the package sd installed you can simply do:
sd "kde5" "kde6" /etc/apt/sources.list
otherwise you can use:
sed -i 's/kde5/kde6/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
Either of the above commands will change the repository configuration to source the KDE/Plasma 6 packages. Once that is done you need to refresh the package list:
apt-get update
Remove KDE/Plasma 5
Now remove the KDE/Plasma 5 packages with the following command. If you are running in the desktop you will see icons and widgets "disappear" but don't worry and definitely DON'T close the Konsole window!
apt-get install task-kde5-remove
- If during the removal of KDE/Plasma 5 you get something like:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
task-kde5-remove: Conflicts: kauth
Conflicts: kconfig
Conflicts: kcoreaddons
Conflicts: kdbusaddons
Conflicts: ki18n
Conflicts: knotifications
Conflicts: kservice
Conflicts: kwidgetsaddons
Conflicts: kwindowsystem
Conflicts: solid
E: Broken packagestask-kde5-remove:
then perform an apt-get remove on the first of the conflicting packages e.g.
apt-get remove kauth
APT will want to install/remove a bunch of packages. Allow it to do so and then try installing task-kde5-remove again.
Repeat this procedure until task-kde5-remove successfully installs.
Install KDE/Plasma 6
The following command will install the new KDE/Plasma 6 packages:
apt-get install task-kde6-install
Once the packages are installed ensure that any dependent packages are updated:
apt-get dist-upgrade
Once that is done you should now reboot the system. Trying to use the GUI will probably not work so you should reboot by typing:
reboot
in the Konsole window.
After the upgrade
You will notice some missing software and customizations so will need to reinstall any missing applications and reconfigure things to your taste.
If you have your own downloaded/customized widgets then be sure to remove task-kde6-install otherwise your widgets will be blown away when that package updates.
Known Problems
- KDE6 menu does not work well with the GDM login manager. Please switch to the SDDM login manager.
- Wayland - hot keys do not work and will crash you back to the login screen.
- Various KDE6 bugs
- Remove the left most icon "unknown" on the panel. It is the icon for Panel Transparency Button which is no longer compatible with KDE6. There is an unofficial port compatible with KDE6 here.