Bug 499035 - New account creation on Wayland overrides screen scaling
Summary: New account creation on Wayland overrides screen scaling
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 6.2.5
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-01-23 03:11 UTC by amdfan12
Modified: 2025-01-23 15:56 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

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Description amdfan12 2025-01-23 03:11:08 UTC
SUMMARY
When creating a new account on a Wayland session, the created account will use a different screen scaling value than the "creating" account. This does not create a consistent user experience on a given system/configuration

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Acquire 27" 2560x1440 monitor
2. Set resolution to 2560x1440
3. Set screen scaling to 100%
4. Create new user account, then login

OBSERVED RESULT
New account will use 125% screen scaling

EXPECTED RESULT
New account should use 100% screen scaling for a consistent user experience. This reflects the behavior in other operating systems, such as Windows.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: Fedora 41/OpenSUSE Tumbleweed
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.10
Qt Version: 6.8.1

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2025-01-23 15:55:05 UTC
It's intentional that KWin (not Plasma) does its best to use a sane scale factor for new accounts, which depends on the screen's resolution and physical size.

Size of items on screen being a subjective preference, it's possible to override the default scale that KWin chooses, which is why this is user-customizable on a per-user basis. Given that a new user account may be used by a different person, it's reasonable to expect that person might have preferences that differ, which means it doesn't make sense to inherit the scale value set by a different user on the same machine.