Bug 195930

Summary: A way to query plasma for the current wallpaper filename
Product: [Unmaintained] plasma4 Reporter: Metin Akat <akat.metin>
Component: wallpaper-imageAssignee: Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs>
Status: RESOLVED UNMAINTAINED    
Severity: wishlist CC: akat.metin, asraniel, celer, ecognito, jsseabold, kde
Priority: NOR    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Gentoo Packages   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Metin Akat 2009-06-10 21:13:03 UTC
Version:            (using KDE 4.2.4)
OS:                Linux
Installed from:    Gentoo Packages

Hi Folks,

It would be great if there was a way to query plasma (via dbus or whatever) for the filename shown as the current wallpaper.
It would be very useful as I have the habit of throwing it a huge directory with lots of wallpapers. It happens very often that I like some wallpaper very much, but I have no idea how to find that file without having to search amongst thousands of pictures.
Comment 1 Metin Akat 2009-06-13 21:51:14 UTC
Also, I wouldn't mind if there was some way to manipulate the background files (especially delete the ones I don't like so that then don't appear any more).
Comment 2 Dario Andres 2009-10-22 00:36:23 UTC
*** Bug 195309 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 Wesley 2009-12-20 23:58:05 UTC
I actually don't want to mark it as wishlist. I run conky with a transparant background. When I need to change the background I need to:

* Logout
* Console login
* Restart kdm

And then I can have my background in conky. Highly annoying for such a simple thing.
Comment 4 Evan McLean 2009-12-21 01:35:05 UTC
Wesley, as an interim workaround, after changing the background in KDE, try using qiv to set the root X display as well with the same image.  (e.g. "qiv --root_s image.png" or "qiv --root_t image.png")

I've found this will update the conky pseudo-transparent background without having to jump through the other hoops you described.
Comment 5 Wesley 2009-12-21 13:11:48 UTC
Evan, I know how I can change it without having to do all of that. But I have a script running ever X minutes to check if the wallpaper has changed, and set the same wallpaper (but darker) on my root X display. I can hardcode the wallpaper location in that script to circumvent it, but that is not the most elegant solution. In KDE3 it works fine with a dcop call, but KDE4 has some quircks:

WALL_PAPER=$(grep 'wallpaper=' $HOME/.kde/share/config/plasma-desktop-appletsrc | tail -2 | head -1 | awk -F= '{print $NF}')
WALL_PAPER=$(grep 'wallpaper=' $HOME/.kde/share/config/plasma-desktop-appletsrc | tail -1 | awk -F= '{print $NF}')
## KDE3:
#WALL_PAPER=$(dcop kdesktop KBackgroundIface currentWallpaper 1)

As far as I can see, the location of the wallpaper also changes in the configuration file.. Is it the last wallpaper= entry, the first or somewhere else. Getting this information via some kind of query would definitely improve customizing KDE. 

I hope you see why I don't think of this as a wishlist item, but more as a real bug.
Comment 6 Evan McLean 2009-12-22 00:10:40 UTC
Oh, I 100% agree it is a bug and not a wishlist item! I've also raised #217950 for the ability to set the wallpaper via a dbus command, which I also think is a bug in that it is missing functionality that should be there (and was in KDE 3.5).
Comment 7 celer 2010-02-16 20:20:06 UTC
I would LOVE to be able to use aterm with transparent background again with KDE, it is one of the few things that keeps me jumping back to gnome on unbuntu 9.10. 

I don't mind having to write a script which will pull the current background via dbus and set the root window to it - although my preference would be to have plasma sync its background with the root background.
Comment 8 Skipper 2014-06-29 18:08:51 UTC
Any update on this after 5 years? Seems like slideshows have been fundamentally broken this whole time?
Comment 9 Nate Graham 2018-06-08 19:59:50 UTC
Hello!

This feature request was filed for KDE Plasma 4, which reached end-of-support status in August 2015. KDE Plasma 5's desktop shell has been almost completely rewritten for better performance and usability, so it is likely that this feature request is already implemented in Plasma 5, or is no longer applicable.

Accordingly, we hope you understand why we must close this feature request. If the requested feature is still desired but not implemented in KDE Plasma 5.12 or later, please feel free to open a new ticket in the "plasmashell" product after reading https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Bug_Reporting

If you would like to get involved in KDE's bug triaging effort so that future mass bug closes like this are less likely, please read https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved#Bug_Triaging

Thanks for your understanding!

Nate Graham