Bug 513983

Summary:	Plasmashell exits with Wayland protocol error ("error 3: xdg_surface must not have a buffer at creation") when opening start menu
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	Torge Rosendahl <torgeros>
Component:	generic-crash	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	major	CC:	kdedev, mikel5764, nate, niccolo.venerandi, noahadvs
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	6.5.4
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Neon
OS:	Linux
See Also:	https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=486449 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=506412
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments:	stderr of plasmashell replace

Description Torge Rosendahl 2025-12-30 19:40:20 UTC

SUMMARY
Sometimes, when I press the Super key to open the start menu, Plasma crashes.
I still see all my windows, but the Panel, my desktop background + widgets turn black, with Plasma apparently restarting after roughly 2-3 seconds (widgets take a bit longer than that).

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 6.14.0-37-generic
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.21.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1
On KDE Neon with Wayland

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

`journalctl /usr/bin/plasmashell` of the relevant section:

```plain
Dec 30 20:36:05 pctorge plasmashell[51281]: xdg_surface#259: error 3: attached a buffer before configure event
Dec 30 20:36:05 pctorge plasmashell[51281]: The Wayland connection experienced a fatal error: Protocol error
Dec 30 20:36:06 pctorge plasmashell[52154]: QWaylandGLContext: Failed to create the decorations EGLContext. Decorations will not be drawn.
Dec 30 20:36:06 pctorge plasmashell[52154]: Applet preload policy set to 1
Dec 30 20:36:06 pctorge plasmashell[52154]: QWaylandGLContext: Failed to create the decorations EGLContext. Decorations will not be drawn.
Dec 30 20:36:06 pctorge plasmashell[52154]: QWaylandGLContext: Failed to create the decorations EGLContext. Decorations will not be drawn.
Dec 30 20:36:06 pctorge plasmashell[52154]: QWaylandGLContext: Failed to create the decorations EGLContext. Decorations will not be drawn.
Dec 30 20:36:06 pctorge plasmashell[52154]: QWaylandGLContext: Failed to create the decorations EGLContext. Decorations will not be drawn.
Dec 30 20:36:08 pctorge plasmashell[52154]: QWaylandGLContext: Failed to create the decorations EGLContext. Decorations will not be drawn.
```

Comment 1 Torge Rosendahl 2025-12-30 19:55:15 UTC

The issue appears to be gone after a reboot.

Comment 2 TraceyC 2025-12-31 17:11:41 UTC

Thanks for the bug report. It looks like Plasma runs into a Wayland protocol error, not actually a crash:

Dec 30 20:36:05 pctorge plasmashell[51281]: xdg_surface#259: error 3: attached a buffer before configure event
Dec 30 20:36:05 pctorge plasmashell[51281]: The Wayland connection experienced a fatal error: Protocol error

We had tracked this in bug 486449 and thought it was fixed with an update to Frameworks, but you're running a current version of Frameworks.

At this point, we need to figure out which exact thing is causing this on your system.

Can you please run `WAYLAND_DEBUG=1 plasmashell --replace` in a terminal window, then reproduce the crash, and then attach the entire contents of the output (it will be long) as a file here? I realize it may take time, and perhaps multiple attempts. Thanks!

Comment 3 Torge Rosendahl 2026-01-01 18:02:59 UTC

Created attachment 188137 [details]
stderr of plasmashell replace

Attached a file with the output of

WAYLAND_DEBUG=1 plasmashell --replace 2> plasmadebuglog.txt

Comment 4 TraceyC 2026-01-07 21:37:34 UTC

Thanks for the logs. The plasma developers will take a closer look.

Comment 5 Nate Graham 2026-01-08 22:35:22 UTC

There's also Bug 506412.

Looks like it was never fully fixed. :/