Index: kcontrol/arts/Makefile.am
===================================================================
--- kcontrol/arts/Makefile.am.orig
+++ kcontrol/arts/Makefile.am
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+bin_PROGRAMS = arts-start
+
+arts_start_SOURCES = arts-start.cpp
+arts_start_LDFLAGS = $(all_libraries)
+arts_start_LDADD = $(LIB_KDECORE)
+
 kde_module_LTLIBRARIES = kcm_arts.la
 
 kcm_arts_la_SOURCES = arts.cpp generaltab.ui hardwaretab.ui krichtextlabel.cpp
Index: kcontrol/arts/arts-start.cpp
===================================================================
--- /dev/null
+++ kcontrol/arts/arts-start.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+
+    Copyright (C) 2007 Lubos Lunak <l.lunak@suse.cz>
+
+    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+    (at your option) any later version.
+
+    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+    GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
+
+    Permission is also granted to link this program with the Qt
+    library, treating Qt like a library that normally accompanies the
+    operating system kernel, whether or not that is in fact the case.
+
+*/
+
+#include <kconfig.h>
+#include <kinstance.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <X11/Xlib.h>
+
+static bool arts_running()
+    {
+    int status = system( "artsshell status >/dev/null 2>/dev/null" );
+    return WIFEXITED( status ) && WEXITSTATUS( status ) == 0;
+    }
+
+int main()
+    {
+    // Try to launch arts this way only a single time in the whole session. After first
+    // try set X property on the root window and following attemps bail out if it's set.
+    Display* dpy = XOpenDisplay( NULL );
+    if( dpy == NULL ) // don't launch arts without X
+        return 4;
+    Atom atom = XInternAtom( dpy, "_KDE_ARTS_TRIED", False );
+    int count;
+    Atom* atoms = XListProperties( dpy, DefaultRootWindow( dpy ), &count );
+    bool tried = false;
+    if( atoms != NULL )
+        {
+        for( int i = 0;
+             i < count;
+             ++i )
+            if( atoms[ i ] == atom )
+                {
+                tried = true;
+                break;
+                }
+        }
+    if( tried ) // this should probably wait, but artsshell will result in calling this too
+        return 2;
+    long dummy = 1;
+    XChangeProperty( dpy, DefaultRootWindow( dpy ), atom, atom, 32, PropModeReplace, (const unsigned char*)&dummy, 1 );
+    XCloseDisplay( dpy );
+    KInstance inst( "arts-start" );
+    KConfig config("kcmartsrc", true, false);
+    config.setGroup("Arts");
+    if( !config.readBoolEntry("StartServer",true))
+        return 2;
+    system( "kcminit arts" );
+    for( int i = 0;
+         i < 50; // give it 5 seconds
+         ++i )
+        {
+        if( arts_running())
+            return 0;
+        usleep( 100 * 1000 );
+        }
+    return 3;
+    }