Almost a month after the previous 6.20 release, KDE announced the launch of Frameworks 6.21, expanding its collection of add-on libraries to Qt and enhancing functionality available to developers across various platforms.
One of the most visible areas of change is KIO, the framework responsible for file management and remote access, which receives a long list of fixes and behavioral improvements.
These include refinements to file previews, safer handling of systemd environment variables, improved rename dialogs, better progress reporting during file operations, and multiple crash and edge-case fixes. Several long-standing bugs related to trash handling, file links, and mount point resolution are also addressed.
Kirigami, KDE’s …
Almost a month after the previous 6.20 release, KDE announced the launch of Frameworks 6.21, expanding its collection of add-on libraries to Qt and enhancing functionality available to developers across various platforms.
One of the most visible areas of change is KIO, the framework responsible for file management and remote access, which receives a long list of fixes and behavioral improvements.
These include refinements to file previews, safer handling of systemd environment variables, improved rename dialogs, better progress reporting during file operations, and multiple crash and edge-case fixes. Several long-standing bugs related to trash handling, file links, and mount point resolution are also addressed.
Kirigami, KDE’s application framework for convergent and mobile-friendly interfaces, receives extensive polishing. The release improves layout behavior, animations, toolbar consistency, memory management, and documentation accuracy.
On the core library side, KConfig and KCoreAddons gain performance and correctness improvements, including more efficient INI parsing, improved test coverage, and fixes to the fuzzy matching logic. KCodecs strengthens its UTF-8 and UTF-16 handling with RFC-compliant behavior and additional unit tests, while KArchive fixes a potential infinite loop when processing malformed 7z files.
Graphics and media handling also receive attention. KImageFormats addresses multiple cases of uninitialized buffers across formats such as PSD, HDR, EXR, and RGB, while expanding support for grayscale PSD images. Breeze Icons adds new icons and resolves installation issues when icon generation is disabled.
Several modules focus on API cleanup and deprecation as part of the ongoing Qt 6 transition. KGuiAddons formally deprecates KColorSchemeWatcher, KService removes legacy handling paths, and KSVG continues simplifying and modernizing its ImageSet and FrameSvg APIs while adding more precise documentation.
Internationalization, accessibility, and platform-specific behavior are refined across the stack. KI18n exposes a new QML singleton, KHolidays corrects regional holiday data, KWindowSystem improves activation token handling, and Solid enhances backend behavior on Windows and Linux power-management systems.
For those who prefer to build from source, the entire codebase for Frameworks 6.21 is available for download from 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 detailed information on all the changes in KDE Frameworks 6.21, including a full list of updates and bug fixes.