KDE 3.5 install probs (FBSD 5.4)

[nospam at apriori.net]

I've been trying to install the newer release of KDE on my 5.4 system with
no luck. Here are some attempts:

1. Download kdebase-3.5.0 tarball, run ./configure (for starters):

[laptop]/home/laptop/KDE/kdebase/kdebase-3.5.0(40): ./configure
checking build system type... i386-unknown-freebsd5.4
checking host system type... i386-unknown-freebsd5.4
checking target system type... i386-unknown-freebsd5.4
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking for -p flag to install... yes
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... no
checking for mawk... no
checking for nawk... nawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking for kde-config... not found
configure: error: The important program kde-config was not found!
Please check whether you installed KDE correctly.

...I couldn't find a tarball or anything else looking like "kde-config" to
install.

2. Use konstruct:

Download the sources, untar them. They are supposed to play like FBSD
ports; cd into some directory and type make install. There is a "meta"
directory; here's what happens there:

[laptop]/home/laptop/KDE/konstruct/meta(48): make install
"../category.mk", line 13: Need an operator
make: fatal errors encountered -- cannot continue

3. Some other attempt wth konstruct; cd into the kdebase subdirectory and
do a make install there:

[laptop]/home/laptop/KDE/konstruct/kde/kdebase(54): make install
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 38: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 54: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 64: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 100: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 108: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 116: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 134: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 135: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 136: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 137: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 138: Need an operator
"../../gar.conf.mk", line 139: Need an operator
"../../gar.lib.mk", line 272: Need an operator
"../../gar.lib.mk", line 274: Need an operator
"../../gar.lib.mk", line 277: Need an operator
"../../gar.lib.mk", line 288: Need an operator
"../../color.mk", line 19: Missing dependency operator
"../../color.mk", line 62: Need an operator
"../../gar.mk", line 65: Need an operator
"../../gar.mk", line 67: Need an operator
"../../gar.mk", line 69: Need an operator
Error expanding embedded variable.

I didn't play with the gar.conf.mk file; it looked like it was supposed to
run okay the way it was. I probably do not understand what they're doing
with the gar.conf.mk files.

cheers & happy new year -
-- paz.