Bug 509465

Summary: Kickoff should show two distinct shortcuts when an app is installed multiple times from different sources
Product: [Plasma] plasmashell Reporter: Ilya Bizyaev <bizyaev>
Component: generalAssignee: Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status: CONFIRMED ---    
Severity: wishlist CC: kde, kdedev, mikel5764, nate, noahadvs, renner0
Priority: NOR    
Version First Reported In: 6.4.5   
Target Milestone: 1.0   
Platform: KDE Linux   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Ilya Bizyaev 2025-09-13 17:20:29 UTC 
SUMMARY
Currently, if an app is installed both in the system and as a Flatpak, and the IDs match (as they should), Kickoff only shows one entry for the app (for Flatpak). This can lead to some confusing issues: https://invent.kde.org/kde-linux/kde-linux/-/issues/291#note_1297628

This can happen without the user's intention, e.g. when KDE Linux moves Flatpak apps into the base image.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Have Dolphin installed both in the system and from Flathub.
2. Launch Kickoff and look for Dolphin (e.g. in the “System” section).

OBSERVED RESULT
You will only find one Dolphin icon, concealing the problem.

EXPECTED RESULT
Kickoff should show both, potentially even adding " (Flatpak)" to the sandboxed version to disambiguate without KMenuEdit.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
KDE Linux 2025-09-13
KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.80
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.19

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 David Edmundson 2025-09-13 17:41:01 UTC 
It's an issue; but solving this at a kickoff level would be wrong. There's no spec-compliant way to separate a dolphin in flatpak and the system, from a dolphin that the user has edited explicitly in kmenuedit and deliberately shadowed. We would be in heuristics, which ends up backfiring a lot of the time.

Having discover know about cases where apps are already installed (via some sort of appstream metadata of the base system) might be possible.
Comment 2 TraceyC 2025-09-16 22:21:36 UTC 
Changing to wishlist since this is a feature request, not a bug, technically.
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2025-09-16 22:43:08 UTC 
It's tricky. If we want it done systemwide, we need to edit the .desktop files. But which piece of software would be responsible for that?

If we didn't do that, we'd need to patch every app that can handle .desktop files, which means 3rd-party apps wouldn't benefiot even if we got all the KDE ones.
Comment 4 TraceyC 2025-09-18 15:15:14 UTC 
Just noting that this would also benefit apps like Spotify that, when you try to install the flatpak, install both a flatpak and a snap version. The menus have the same icon for both.