Bug 467167

Summary: All my widgets disappeared
Product: [Plasma] plasmashell Reporter: Miguel Rozsas <miguel>
Component: generic-multiscreenAssignee: Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME    
Severity: major CC: aleixpol, kde, nate, notmart
Priority: NOR    
Version First Reported In: 5.27.2   
Target Milestone: 1.0   
Platform: openSUSE   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Miguel Rozsas 2023-03-10 18:19:50 UTC
SUMMARY
***
I had a desktop populated with several widgets: several system monitors, analog clock, weather, knotes.
I logoff and them poweroff the computer and on the next day all widgets disappeared whitout any raeson: I didn't changed anything, I didn't install anything.
I have a two monitor setup and an amd video card.
***


STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1.  logoff
2.  power off
3.  next day power on, log in

OBSERVED RESULT
All widgets disappeared.

EXPECTED RESULT
All widgets there in their previous location.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20230302
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.103.0
Qt Version: 5.15.8
Kernel Version: 6.2.1-1-default (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 12 × AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 6-Core Processor
Memory: 30.5 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon RX 6600
Manufacturer: ASUS

Not a new bug, widgets disappearing from multi monitor setups are well know (the bug, not the fix)
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2023-03-13 22:53:42 UTC
Sorry this happened. In Plasma 5.27 we implemented a new system for mapping Plasma desktops and panels to screens that is fundamentally more correct by design, and as a result much more robust. We also added code to migrate old settings to this new system. Unfortunately, due to the non-determinism baked into the old system, the migration code works better the simpler your arrangement of screens, desktops, and panels was. For complex arrangements, we've seen a few reports that sometimes panels or desktops are swapped or missing, as a result of the old settings being in an inconsistent state at the moment of migration, and thereafter the new system doesn't work perfectly

We do have a UI to recover missing desktops in the form of the "Manage Desktops and Panels" window, which should let people manually restore their old setup. Can you find your missing widgets in there? If you can, and you can recover them? Can you see if this fixes the issue once and for all and they never get lost again?
Comment 2 Miguel Rozsas 2023-03-14 11:52:06 UTC
Hi, Thank you so far.
Yes, I understand that a previous setup may have inconsistencies not addressable in the current refactoring. Good to know.
I would like very much to try that "UI to recover missing desktops " but I was unable to find it ! Is it a extra package I should install or is it somewhere in configuration panel ? Sorry if I was unable to find it...Search in google didn't return anything ....I appreciate any help here, I didn't put back any widgets yet so I think I could restore all my widgets back.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2023-03-14 15:07:19 UTC
Oh my apologies, I forgot to explain that part. Here's how:

Right-click on desktop > click on "Enter Edit Mode" > a toolbar pops down from the top of the screen > click on "Manage Desktops and Panels"
Comment 4 Miguel Rozsas 2023-03-14 16:47:40 UTC
I get it now ! Thank you !
Yeah, I think it is good only for desktops and panels, not for the widgets that I've lost (system monitor, clock, weather, etc).

Anyway I appreciate your help and effort !
Comment 5 Nate Graham 2023-03-15 14:54:24 UTC
I was hoping that the widgets moved onto another desktop, and that desktop is accessible from the "Manage Desktops and Panels" window such that you can drag it into the place where your main desktop is and recover the widgets. Can you try this with all available desktops?
Comment 6 Miguel Rozsas 2023-03-15 17:44:20 UTC
No, was not the case. There is only 2 desktops there, the current ones.
I recreate 5 system monitors, 1 Kargos widget and 1 weather widget. 
Lets see if they are more robust now,  as it was created on 5.27.2.
Thank you.
Comment 7 Nate Graham 2023-03-15 19:35:10 UTC
Ok, if you've recreated your widget setup, then the old data is lost and I'm afraid there's no way we can debug this further. :( The good news is that this shouldn't recur going forward due to the new system we have in Plasma 5.27. So hopefully this is the last time it should ever happen! Fingers crossed!