483136 2024-03-10 17:07:57 +0000 plasmashell doesn't wait for kconf_update 2025-08-28 21:09:21 +0000 1 1 4 Plasma plasmashell Startup process master Other Linux CONFIRMED NOR normal 1.0 1 fabian plasma-bugs-null kde kilgore.trout nate 0 oldest_to_newest 2298411 0 fabian 2024-03-10 17:07:57 +0000 openQA found that after upgraing from Plasma 5, the panel becomes floating: https://openqa.opensuse.org/tests/4003016#step/opensuse_welcome/17 One part of the issue was fixed by https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/merge_requests/4030. However, openQA was still unhappy. Looking at the journalctl output shows that kconf_update was still busy even after plasmashell launched. While various other processes like kwin handle this, plasmashell does not: It neither waits for kconf_update nor is capable of handling runtime changes. In this particular case it ended up reading plasmashellrc pre kconf_update (no "floating=" setting) and writing updated settings back (including "floating=1"). Depending on when kconf_update runs, three possible series of events can happen: a) kconf_update completes, writing floating=0 and plasmashell ends up reading that -> success. Very unlikely to happen. b) plasmashell reads plasmashellrc, then kconf_update runs and writes floating=0, then plasmashell ends up overwriting that with its internal default c) b) plasmashell reads plasmashellrc, then plasmashell overwrites it with internal defaults (floating=1), then kconf_update runs an does nothing because floating is already present FWICT plasmashell should be serialized to start only after kded is up. Calling KConfig::checkUpdate would probably result in more races (see kconfig documentation...). Using qdbus worked in my tests: /usr/lib/systemd/user/plasma-plasmashell.service.d/waitforkded.conf: [Service] ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/qdbus6 org.kde.kded6 /kded org.kde.kded6.loadedModules: