Bug 506084

Summary:	New authentication dialog sound effect should not be played when authentication dialog is configured to be bypassed
Product:	[Plasma] policykit-kde-agent-1	Reporter:	guimarcalsilva
Component:	general	Assignee:	Unassigned bugs <unassigned-bugs-null>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	normal	CC:	drf, jgrulich, jreznik, kdedev, nate
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	6.4.0
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Fedora RPMs
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description guimarcalsilva 2025-06-24 04:04:15 UTC

SUMMARY
The Merge Request https://invent.kde.org/plasma/polkit-kde-agent-1/-/merge_requests/53 added a new sound effect to authentication dialogs on Plasma 6.4. Some distributions, like Fedora, are configured by default to bypass the authentication dialog for many actions, like installing RPMs with Discover, changing SDDM settings or even for some start-up services. That means the sound effect gets played for a dialog that doesn't show up, and even after Plasma gets loaded. To the user, it just feels like a random sound that is not connected to any action. The sound should be disabled when auth windows are set to be bypassed.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Use a distro like Fedora
2. Boot or do an action that would require authentication, like installing a program

OBSERVED RESULT
Sound effect plays but either nothing shows up or the window is only shown briefly.

EXPECTED RESULT
No sound should play when authentication windows are set to be bypassed.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Fedora Linux 42
KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.15.0
Qt Version: 6.9.1
Kernel Version: 6.14.11-300.fc42.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i3-1005G1 CPU @ 1.20GHz
Memory: 12 GiB of RAM (11.4 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor: Intel® UHD Graphics
Manufacturer: HP
Product Name: HP 246 G7 Notebook PC

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2025-06-25 19:30:09 UTC

This shouldn't happen, and I can't reproduce it on my Fedora 42 system.

Can you reproduce the issue in a new clean user account with no customization?

Comment 2 guimarcalsilva 2025-06-26 05:31:11 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1)
> This shouldn't happen, and I can't reproduce it on my Fedora 42 system.
> 
> Can you reproduce the issue in a new clean user account with no
> customization?

Hi. Yes, I can reproduce it on a brand-new account on the same system. I'm on Plasma 6.4.0 as 6.4.1 is still not available on Fedora 42. I must notice that at least with the new user I didn't hear anything when logging in, but I still hear the sound effect for password dialogs.

Comment 3 Nate Graham 2025-06-26 15:47:52 UTC

> but I still hear the sound effect for password dialogs.

The password dialogs that don't exist?

Comment 4 guimarcalsilva 2025-06-26 16:59:35 UTC

(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3)
> > but I still hear the sound effect for password dialogs.
> 
> The password dialogs that don't exist?

Exactly. They flash on the screen for a second and the sound plays.

Comment 5 TraceyC 2025-06-27 20:43:41 UTC

I'm not able to reproduce this on a Neon Testing VM (that has working sound)

To test, set these in System settings
- Sound - notification sounds - set above 0%
- Notifications → Applications → Authentication System → Configure Events... → Play a sound - ensure you can hear the test sound

- Verified that authentication sound was heard when opening KDE Partition Manager
- Opened Discover, there were updates available
- Clicked on Update All. No authentication dialog appeared and the authentication sound did not play

The other actions mentioned are not bypassed on Neon.
Hopefully someone can test on a Fedora system with working sound.


I also tested
- Changed the SDDM background