Bug 449666

Summary:	Selection of wifi network changes while user is entering password
Product:	[Plasma] plasma-nm	Reporter:	setpill
Component:	applet	Assignee:	Jan Grulich <jgrulich>
Status:	CLOSED DUPLICATE
Severity:	normal	CC:	david, nate
Priority:	NOR
Version:	5.23.5
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Arch Linux
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:

Description setpill 2022-02-05 20:52:17 UTC

SUMMARY

The wifi network list is regularly re-sorted based on some kind of metric (presumably signal strength). When you are trying to connect to a new password-protected wifi network, it keeps focus on the same entry order-wise, but, since the order is now different, another network might be selected.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Start entering a password for a wifi connection that is competing with others for signal strength.
2. Wait for the order to change.
3. See that your (partially) filled password is now applied to an entirely different network.

OBSERVED RESULT

A different network is selected than the one you started entering a password for.

EXPECTED RESULT

The selected network does not change while entering a password.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: Arch Linux (Kernel 5.16.5)
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.23.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.90.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Graphics Platform: Wayland

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2022-02-07 04:47:05 UTC


*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 389052 ***

Comment 2 setpill 2022-02-07 12:09:18 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> 
> *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 389052 ***

This related but not a duplicate. The issue described in 389052 is that the order of entries changes under your mouse. The issue described here is that the password entry box is not associated with the specific entry (ie. linked to a certain SSID) but rather linked to the "nth" entry.

Comment 3 Nate Graham 2022-02-07 17:31:49 UTC

The root cause is the same as in Bug 389052.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 389052 ***

Comment 4 setpill 2022-02-10 00:10:45 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> The root cause is the same as in Bug 389052.

This is false. There are two different root causes.

1. The order of the items in the applet list changes based on signal strength, regardless of mouseover. This is bug 389052. The proper solution to that bug is to detect when an entry has mouseover, and make sure it is not reordered in that case.

2. The password entry field is associated with the nth item in the list rather than associated with the SSID. That is this bug. The proper solution to this bug is to fix that association.

Most notably, in practice this is different because **it's fine for an item to change order when it has keyboard focus**. Keyboard focus can be retained even when an item changes order.

I will refrain from reopening this issue, since I have already switched away from using KDE due to this breaking bug. Up to you to do with as you see fit.