SUMMARY I changed the command line of the xterm desktop file via editing the entry in the menu to have a different font size and color. Ie there is now a copy of the desktop file in my home (~/.local/share/applications/xterm.desktop). Now if I type "alt-f2 xterm enter" it more often than not launches the unmodified desktop file. SOFTWARE VERSIONS (available in About System) KDE Plasma Version: 5.12.6 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.45.0 Qt Version: 5.9.4 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION openSUSE Leap 15.0 https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1107255
>type "alt-f2 xterm enter" it more often than not launches the unmodified desktop file. Can you change the visible name in your local version and see what krunner is showing. Do you see both entries or just one. Also please run kbuildsycoca5 to regenerate the apps DB.
Aha, so I added "-bg yellow" to /usr/share/applications/xterm.desktop to be able to differentiate between a white, yellow and bigger font xterm. Turns out that actually when typing too fast alt-f2 just executes plain xterm itself as command. Ie I get a white xterm. If I'm a bit slower the one from my home with bigger font is launched. Then I changed then name of my local copy to 00XTerm. Now the command line choice ends up always on top so I always get a white xterm. There is no duplicate desktop file entry. However, the desktop file entry never goes back to the top now. Even after deleting ~/.local/share/applications/xterm.desktop, running kbuildsycoca5, rebooting *sigh*.
ok, found the settings button and turned off all modules besides applications. Not exactly what that thing was intended for I guess but at least reliable now :-)
I can confirm this too. I'd like to see this turned into a feature request (wishlist item). It would be great if krunner had a priority system. Which plugin should be matched first if a text entry matches multiple. ie I can type konsole and it will give me multiple options but the Application isn't at the top (default selection). What are others thoughts on this?
KRunner has been changed over the years to prefer apps over local files in such situations. Should be fixed now as of Plasma 5.27. If it's not, please feel free to re-open the bug report.