In order to successfully use Kdenlive, you need KDE 3.0 or higher. Additionally, you need piave in order to do anthing useful - kdenlive itself is after all, just an interface :-)
All required libraries as well as Kdenlive itself can be found on or via The Kdenlive home page.
You can find a list of changes at http://pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/kdenlive.html. FIXME : this link does not actually point at a changelog.