Bug 396322

Summary:	An option for the screenlocker to show the screensaver without actually locking the computer
Product:	[Unmaintained] kscreenlocker	Reporter:	Jonathan M Davis <bugs.kde.org>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	bshah, kde, kde
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	FreeBSD Ports
OS:	FreeBSD
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Jonathan M Davis 2018-07-08 22:45:36 UTC

As far as I can tell, kscreenlocker is KDE's current screensaver solution. It gives pretty much the same control over what it shows as the desktop wallpaper does, and I'd like to use it. However, for whatever reason, it gives no options for not locking the screen when it turns on. So, if I want a screensaver, I'm stuck with the screen locking. For a computer like my laptop which gets used in places outside my home, locking the screen makes perfect sense, but for my desktop at home, it makes no sense at all. It's just annoying. So, I'd really appreciate it if the "Require password after locking" control had an option for "never" so that I'm not required to have my screen lock just to get the screensaver.

Comment 1 Kai Uwe Broulik 2018-07-09 08:05:47 UTC

Why not just let the screen automatically turn off instead of wasting power showing a screensaver?

Comment 2 Jonathan M Davis 2018-07-09 09:01:18 UTC

(In reply to Kai Uwe Broulik from comment #1)
> Why not just let the screen automatically turn off instead of wasting power
> showing a screensaver?

For all of the normal reasons that you use a screensaver rather than just shutting the screen off. I'd like to be able to have images showing when I'm not using the computer but am still in the room. Certainly, if that goes on long enough, I want the screen shutting off, but it's not particularly interesting to have the screen just shut off.

You could ask the same question as to why the screenlocker has a slideshow in the first place.

Comment 3 David Edmundson 2018-07-09 09:12:58 UTC

This is not a job for the screenlocker.

You can do a slideshow with gwenview.

Comment 4 Jonathan M Davis 2018-07-10 04:12:24 UTC

(In reply to David Edmundson from comment #3)
> This is not a job for the screenlocker.
> 
> You can do a slideshow with gwenview.

Well, if you guys won't fix it so that kscreenlocker can act like a screensaver, then you're not going to fix it, but running a slideshow with a screensaver and running one with with gwenview are two completely different things even if they both involve running a slideshow. One kicks in when the computer has had no input for a certain period of time, and the other is something you run manually when you're specifically trying to show a slideshow.

Honestly, I find it pretty amazing that there's anything controversial here. The way that most OSes and DEs handle this is that you have a screensaver, and you can optionally choose to have it require a password to turn it off, whereas it seems like the current approach to KDE is to try and just have it lock the screen and act like it's not a screensaver at all even though that's precisely what it does - it's just made the locking functionality mandatory for some reason.