I compiled kdevelop 4.5.1 and some plugins a while back. I'd like to upgrade to 4.6.

Can I keep the old 4.5 alongside a new 4.6 version? (The current install was compiled in my home directory but installed system wide.)

Another question, The instructions on the kdevelop page show to make uninstall the old version first then compile and install the new one. I want to keep my old version at least until I've succesfully compiled all the components of the new version. What happens if I git checkout the new version, make and then make uninstall? Will that let me make the new version while still using the old version? Will the make uninstall while git is checked out at 4.6 be ok to run on the installed 4.5 version? Will the make uninstall only address the system install or will it affect the new compile I just did using make?

Also, how far out is 4.7, should I just wait for that?

You need to run "make uninstall" before performing the checkout and recompilation in this case.

In this case, if you'd like to keep your existing installation until you're ready to install 4.6, I would suggest making new clones and compiling those. Due to the nature of KDevelop though you may still need to uninstall all KDevelop 4.5 related components before trying to build 4.6 (although they will be easy enough to install again).