Copy the KDE 3.5 branch to branches/trinity for new KDE 3.5 features.

BUG:215923


git-svn-id: svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/branches/trinity/kdelibs@1054174 283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da

1 files changed, 41 insertions, 0 deletions

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+Starting other programs
+
+In KDE 2 and KDE 3 there are several ways to start other programs from within
+your application. Here is a short summary of your options with reasons why
+you should or should not use them.
+
+1. fork + exec
+
+You never want to use this unless you have a very good reason why it is 
+impossible to use KProcess.
+
+2. KProcess
+
+You want to use this if you need to start a new process which needs to be a 
+child of your process, e.g. because you want to catch stdout/stderr or need 
+to send it data via stdin. You should never use this to start other KDE 
+applications unless your application is called kgdb :-) If you need to
+send/receive text like data to/from the process, you are probably better 
+off with KProcIO
+
+3. KProcIO
+
+Like KProcess. Unlike KProcess, this class actually makes it easy to 
+send data to and receive data from the process.
+
+4. startServiceByDesktopPath
+
+Preferred way to launch desktop (KDE/Gnome/X) applications or KDE services. 
+The application/service must have a .desktop file. It will make use of 
+KDEinit for increased startup performance and lower memory usage. These 
+benefits only apply to applications available as KDEinit loadable module (KLM)
+
+5. KRun
+
+Generic way to open documents/applications/shell commands. Uses
+startServiceBy.... where applicable. Offers the additional 
+benefit of startup-notification.
+KRun can start any application, from the binary or the desktop file,
+it will determine the mimetype of a file before running the
+preferred handler for it, and it can also start shell commands.
+This makes KRun the recommended way to run another program in KDE 2.