I have the same problem in Kubuntu's current KDE 4.11.2.

In the View category, the wallpaper is set to "Slideshow". The settings I make in the Images section are applied, when clicking "Apply" (different and correct wallpaper is shown), but immediately forgotten and reverted when clicking OK (one of the system standard wallpapers is shown).
The selections affected are "System wallpapers", "My downloaded wallpapers" and "Custom folders".
Other settings, like "Change images every" setting seem to work properly.

Created attachment 83673 [details]
settings that are present after clicking OK and opening the dialog again

The settings in the "Images" part are completely lost after clicking OK. The picture shows the settings after opening the settings dialog again.

Could there please be any sign not emphasizing the total insignificance of our bug report?
Be it the wish for further information or a patch?

*** Bug 325976 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 328843 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 323030 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

any progress about this bug?

Still there in 4.11.3.

*** Bug 329147 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Still persists in 4.12.1 (Arch Linux)

*** Bug 330130 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

I'm running KDE 4.12.1 on Arch. This problem still persists.

Same Here... KDE 4.11.5 on Fedora 20

Hi,

These bug was also reported by Debian users here:
http://bugs.debian.org/738337

Thanks,

The other implication of the bug (I presume) is that you cannot remove custom directories from the slideshow. Does anyone know of a workaround to accomplish this?

(In reply to comment #15)

I believe editing the settings file manually (I forgot which) is the only way unfortunately.

Ah ok, thanks. I grepped through `~/.kde/share` and found a reference to the path in `~/.kde/share/config/plasma-desktop-appletsrc`

I was incorrect previously; this file only contains the last entry that I specified in the settings. The reason why I thought the previous entries persisted is that there seems to be another bug where the specified directory is not the only one that is included in the slideshow.

I'm trying to workaround bug 325380, where the image is not reloaded when changed. I've set up a slideshow pointing to a directory containing a single symlinked file, but it appears to traverse into the directory and subdirectories of the target of the symlink. I've created bug 331223.

Here's a side-effect (I think) of the bug (or please tell me if it should be reported as a separate bug). When we open the Desktop Settings and *don't* see the custom folders listed, if we change the positioning/colour/time settings in the same pane and hit OK/Apply, then apparently the non-displayed folders are forgotten and it goes back to the system default wallpapers or something. Anyone else can confirm it? And developers please tell me whether I should report it as separate bug or not? (It seems to be a side-effect of this one.)

Shriramana, yes, I think I see the same thing. I'm pretty sure it's just a side effect of this bug.

i have just found when init.
the m_dirs has value
when the Image::createConfigurationInterface.
m_dirs did not has value.

i have temporary solved this problem just move the m_dirs to the global variable, and it solved.
waiting for your solution.

i know why it not list.
m_dirs did not list because
BackgroundDialog::changeBackgroundMode 483
d->wallpaper->setPreviewing(true);
this
but the slideshow did not preview.
this code will cause slideshow not init the m_dirs, causing the slide did not show configure

Created attachment 85287 [details]
diff that fix this BUG.

the "if (mode == "SingleImage")"
i didn't know that is correct or not.

I tried the patch and unfortunately, it didn't change anything to the problem.

(In reply to comment #24)
> I tried the patch and unfortunately, it didn't change anything to the
> problem.

you can change the code by yourself, the modify is simple.
and this patch is form kde 4.11.6

i change this code
libs/plasmagenericshell/backgrounddialog.cpp:480


change 
         d->wallpaper->setPreviewing(true);
         d->preview->setPreview(d->wallpaper);
to

      if (mode == "SingleImage") {
         d->wallpaper->setPreviewing(true);
         d->preview->setPreview(d->wallpaper);
      }

and this patch is form kde 4.11.6 -> and this patch is form kde-workspace 4.11.6 
the environment is kde 4.12.2

That's what I did and it did not change anything.

(In reply to comment #27)
> That's what I did and it did not change anything.

did you have restart the plasma-desktop after compile.
and you need something settings in slideshow to test.
i am making a video. i will poset the url later

another thing, the cmake of kde-workspace did not install the library correct.
i link it to /usr/lib manually to let the patch work.

I am using gentoo.  I made a patch on basis of the kde-workspace git tree and I added it to a modified ebuild. Then I recompiled plasma-workspace and I restarted kdm. And the problem still occurs.

http://www.mediafire.com/watch/3i3xw37wlwmbupd/out(2).ogv
this is video tutorial about solved problem

(In reply to comment #30)
> I am using gentoo.  I made a patch on basis of the kde-workspace git tree
> and I added it to a modified ebuild. Then I recompiled plasma-workspace and
> I restarted kdm. And the problem still occurs.

than you maybe need to check that the code is change or not?
my patch is just create for see the diff :)
you need to into kde-workpace

The code is well modified like this in /var/tmp/portage/kde-base/plasma-workspace-4.11.5/work/plasma-workspace-4.11.5/libs/plasmagenericshell/backgrounddialog.cpp :

  if (mode == "SingleImage") {
        d->wallpaper->setPreviewing(true);
        d->preview->setPreview(d->wallpaper);
      }

And the problem still occurs.

(In reply to comment #33)
> The code is well modified like this in
> /var/tmp/portage/kde-base/plasma-workspace-4.11.5/work/plasma-workspace-4.11.
> 5/libs/plasmagenericshell/backgrounddialog.cpp :
> 
>   if (mode == "SingleImage") {
>         d->wallpaper->setPreviewing(true);
>         d->preview->setPreview(d->wallpaper);
>       }
> 
> And the problem still occurs.

that weird, i am sure this problem is solved in ubuntu 13.10 kde 4.12.2
i also install a new kubuntu in the virtual machine to debug this problem
maybei need to down a arch linux to test.

one think you must sure that is the library must be correct.
i have a problem about after compiling the kde-workspace, the install location is not correct.

did you have arch linux iso url.
the official release just has pure command, and i did not know how to install.

I said  in comment 32 that I use gentoo. I also have ubuntu. So, I am rebuilding the package now with the patch to see what happens.

sorry, my fault.
i have do a trick that is i just compile the libs/plasmagenericshell/ this code and replace, so i am actually did not know compile the all kde-workspace will compile that library or not.

maybe you can try that just compile that library

And what is the name of this library so that I can find which package needs to be recompiled ?

I found out that I needed to recompile the package "libplasmagenericshell". And the patch did indeed solved the problem.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for finding the solution. Hopefully one of the admins notices this and can add the code change before next release.

I'm pretty sure nobody will notice without a Review Request at https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/

this problem is seems that the background dialog force the dir list is preview.
but the slideshow did not need preview, so that code will cause that kdirwatch did not update the m_dirs.

Created attachment 85346 [details]
According to the comments, this solves the problem

I am re-adding the attached patch, because it has not been recognized as such by the bugtracker. Maybe in this form someone will notice it and apply it.

*** Bug 331923 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Bug still persists in 4.2.13

In order to apply the patch to the KDE repositories, we need the name of its author. Does comment #42 mean there is a regression with the patch?

(In reply to comment #46)
> In order to apply the patch to the KDE repositories, we need the name of its
> author. Does comment #42 mean there is a regression with the patch?

according to my check. it seems the problem with preview.
i just add an if to solve this problem. 

the patch is upload by me, my English name "TOM Harrison"

I am using gentoo,bug still persists in 4.2.14.
According to #Comment 39 ,I recompile the package "libplasmagenericshell" and  solved it.
thanks!

I am a bit hesitant to apply the patch, because I feel the regressions were caused by changes to files in plasma/generic/wallpapers/image instead of libs/plasmagenericshell.

Could you please create a review request at https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/ and explain your code changes there for others to review?

As I said in comment #39, this patch solves the problem and I didn't notice any regression since I applied it already almost 2 month ago. Maybe the explanations of the author of this patch are not completely clear, but this patch looks correct.

according to my gdb trace, the directory list is not work is because the kwatchdir in slideshow will return without init because of preview, so i disable the preview of slideshow.

the original purpose of patch is show this could solve this problem, but i did not know that is the perfect solution.

Checked in 4.13.0 (archlinux). Still a problem.

This bug is solved by a patch available since more than 2 months (see comment #30). How long will it still take before that this patch is finally included in KDE ?

François, without going through review, Plasma developers will not see the patch. I am not going to approve it as stated in comment #49.

Although I don't want to take this off topic, it's disappointing to see an important project like KDE having so much trouble getting even the tiniest issues solved... even when a patch has been posted for months. I hope someday testing and patch reviews can receive a reform. Release versions of KDE are full of little bugs, this being one of them... and although I can live with most myself, others might stop considering it a stable software package any longer.

To get a patch applied, we accept multiple workflows, and I will explain all of them to you.

1. Attach a patch to the bug report. Has been done here, but requires someone seeing the patch, evaluating it, and take responsibility applying it. I do not know the code enough to decide if it is correct, so I asked for a review.

2. Create a review request, so that code can be audited by developers before it is applied. Usually those who review the patch are also willing to apply it, if the submitter has no commit rights.

3. Request commit rights, and commit the fix yourself. This requires that you take responsibility for the consequences, if you skipped the review process.

If you feel there should be an additional supported option, or the existing options need a "reform", please discuss changes to code review & commit policies in the KDE forums or on the kde-core-devel mailing list. The usual answer (if any) will be "if you feel you can help us doing better, please step up doing so!"

I don't know the way the KDE team handle patches and I am not questionning it. However, the author of the patch doesn't seem in a hurry to submit a review request. So, the problem persists since a long time altough the patch solves the problem apparently without introducing regressions. I don't see any adverse effect with this patch. So can anybody else than the patch author ask for a review request ?

(In reply to comment #56)
Fair enough. I didn't mean to blame anyone of course. Just a little confused that little bugs like this can take so long to solve in such an important project... and especially that they make it in release versions at all. That clears it up a bit more... and yes, I wish I knew more programming to help more too.

I do not know how to post a review, so I just continue re-use this patch to let the slideshow dir work.

It show this
The selected file does not appear to be a diff.
I cannot submit a review :(
I did not know how to use that :)

Created attachment 86667 [details]
patch maybe in a better format

This is a patch obtained with git diff. Maybe it will be better detected as a patch.

now is this = =.
The file 'libs/plasmagenericshell/backgrounddialog.cpp' (r645de3f) could not be found in the repository

OK, I success, I forget to choose the right repository.
I take time to choose the repository

*** Bug 334926 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 335115 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 337619 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Sorry to be a bit impolite but the fact that this problem is not solved also a patch is available for month is becoming completely ridiculous in my opinion.
I have already said several times that the patch provided here solves the problem without any regression.

Why wait so long to apply it ? The authors has done testing with gdb and analysed the code to come up with a solution. I don't understand what you still want to be convinced. Maybe the explanation are not in perfect english but is it a blocking factor ?

Git commit d4fdd1a78821884cf515467cdbbb769096033452 by Christoph Feck, on behalf of Tom Harrison.
Committed on 20/08/2014 at 19:10.
Pushed by cfeck into branch 'KDE/4.11'.

Fix custom folder list in slideshow wallpaper config

REVIEW: 118180
FIXED-IN: 4.11.12

M  +4    -2    libs/plasmagenericshell/backgrounddialog.cpp

http://commits.kde.org/kde-workspace/d4fdd1a78821884cf515467cdbbb769096033452

Just committed it for the September KDE Workspace release. Sorry if someone got the impression that I wanted to block it.

Thanks to Tom for the investigation, the patch, and the PATIENCE :)

Bug persists in Kubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Please check if you actually have Plasma 4.11.12 using "plasma-desktop --version".