Bug 427807

Summary:	Default settings are not always Plasma defaults but sometimes overwritten by distribution
Product:	[Applications] systemsettings	Reporter:	Claudius Ellsel <claudius.ellsel>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	normal	CC:	nate
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	5.20.0
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Manjaro
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Claudius Ellsel 2020-10-16 14:17:26 UTC

SUMMARY
-> See title

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Use a distribution like Manjaro
2. Go to appearance settings and switch to Breeze theme for example

OBSERVED RESULT
When clicking the reset to presets button on the KCM the Manjaro theme gets applied again.

EXPECTED RESULT
The Breeze theme should be the default.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Manjaro Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 5.20.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.75.0
Qt Version: 5.15.1
Kernel Version: 5.8.14-1-MANJARO
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 4 × Intel® Xeon® CPU E3-1225 v3 @ 3.20GHz
Memory: 11.6 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa DRI Intel® HD Graphics P4600/P4700

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Might be a downstream problem that a distribution changed system default values. As a user though it is a bit problematic that a distribution can do that, although I also see the other side of this.

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2020-10-26 17:56:02 UTC

This is an intentional change in Plasma 5.20: we now respect the distro's own default settings. If a distro wants to overwrite Plasma's defaults with their own, that's their right. If you don't like your distro's deviations from upstream defaults, you should ask your distro to change them, or use a different distro.

We are planning to refine this in Plasma 5.21 by making the default settings specific to each global theme. So for example if you switch from Manjaro's Breath global theme to the upstream Breeze global theme, all of the default settings will reflect Breeze, not Breath.

Comment 2 Claudius Ellsel 2020-10-26 20:26:28 UTC

I already feared that and it makes kind of sense to handle it this way. The problem is that almost no distribution (apart from Neon) has upstream defaults. openSUSE for example seems to replace the application launcher icon (Kickoff) as many others including Manjaro do. So it is rather hard to get a "normal" KDE experience by default, especially if one is looking for rolling release distributions.

Also not that this has not been introduced in 5.20 for me, but has been like this before, so maybe you are talking about something different that got changed with 5.20?

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> We are planning to refine this in Plasma 5.21 by making the default settings
> specific to each global theme. So for example if you switch from Manjaro's
> Breath global theme to the upstream Breeze global theme, all of the default
> settings will reflect Breeze, not Breath.

Does that mean only one setting will be highlighted as changed from default (for the global theme) and deviated settings will be recognized as inherited from that theme? Else I don't understand how it will work unfortunately.