SUMMARY I'm using Breeze as an example, but the issue is generic. The Breeze SDDM theme sets its default background with `background=/usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/5120x2880.png` in theme.conf. When Plasma upgrades and the default wallpaper changes, the file at /usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/5120x2880.png changes and SDDM should reflect the new background. But if the user ever changed the SDDM theme and then returns to Breeze, the wallpaper has now been copied to /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze/ and SDDM will forever use that copy that won't update when the original file changes. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Select the "Breeze" theme 2. Change `/usr/share/wallpapers/Next/contents/images/5120x2880.png` with a different image 3. Logout OBSERVED RESULT Wallpaper hasn't changed EXPECTED RESULT Background changed SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Windows: macOS: Linux/KDE Plasma: Fedora 40 KDE (available in About System) KDE Plasma Version: 6.0.1 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.0.0 Qt Version: 6.6.2 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Not making a copy would break lots of other use cases unfortunately. It's the lesser of two evils.
(In reply to David Edmundson from comment #1) > Not making a copy would break lots of other use cases unfortunately. It's > the lesser of two evils. What use-cases would it break? I'm not asking to never make a copy of the image obviously, just to not do so when it's the default image specified by a theme package. Indeed if you never change theme you already are not using a copy of the image; only if you switch theme you get a copy for no apparent reason.