Bug 506704 - Plasmoid.formFactor is sometimes not set correctly for panel widgets, causing them to inappropriately take on non-panel behaviors
Summary: Plasmoid.formFactor is sometimes not set correctly for panel widgets, causing...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: plasmashell
Classification: Plasma
Component: Panel (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 6.4.2
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR minor
Target Milestone: 1.0
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords: regression
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-07-07 04:47 UTC by Ellie
Modified: 2025-08-23 21:36 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In: 6.5.0
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
Photo of audio volume widget becoming super wide, taking up a lot of the needed space in the task bar (985.31 KB, image/jpeg)
2025-07-07 04:47 UTC, Ellie
Details
Screenshot of the Panel Settings (1.57 MB, image/png)
2025-07-26 04:39 UTC, Ellie
Details

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Description Ellie 2025-07-07 04:47:35 UTC
Created attachment 183024 [details]
Photo of audio volume widget becoming super wide, taking up a lot of the needed space in the task bar

SUMMARY

Since I've upgraded to 6.4.x, sometimes the audio volume widget becomes extremely wide and takes up a lot of space, which is kind of disruptive. I've taken a photo to demonstrate the problem due to #506703 preventing a screenshot.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

1. Have an audio volume widget in your taskbar
2. ???
3. At some point it will be wide.

OBSERVED RESULT

See photo.

EXPECTED RESULT

Audio volume widget doesn't randomly become wide.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS

Windows: 
macOS: 
(available in the Info Center app, or by running `kinfo` in a terminal window)
Linux/KDE Plasma: postmarketOS Edge based on Alpine Edge
KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.15.0
Qt Version: 6.8.3

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 TraceyC 2025-07-11 19:38:30 UTC
Thanks for the bug report. So that we can try to reproduce this, can you let us know what you have set in the System Tray Settings?
Also, can you share the settings for the panel this is on? Thanks
Comment 2 Bug Janitor Service 2025-07-26 03:46:34 UTC
🐛🧹 ⚠️ This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least 15 days. Please provide the requested information, then set the bug status to REPORTED. If there is no change for at least 30 days, it will be automatically closed as RESOLVED WORKSFORME.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures, please read https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
Comment 3 Ellie 2025-07-26 04:39:06 UTC
Created attachment 183525 [details]
Screenshot of the Panel Settings

For some reason it hasn't happened again since I reported this. Nevertheless, here's a screenshot of the panel settings. I have no system tray since I find it too distracting and too hard to configure to behave in expected ways, from left to right I have 1. Application Menu, 2. Icons-Only Task Manager, 3. Brightness and Color widget, 4. Networking widget, 5. Audio volume widget, 6. Notifications widget which due to https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=506442 I have set to do-not-disturb, 7. Digital Clock, 8. Peek at desktop.
Comment 4 Bug Janitor Service 2025-08-10 03:46:22 UTC
🐛🧹 ⚠️ This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least 15 days. Please provide the requested information, then set the bug status to REPORTED. If there is no change for at least 30 days, it will be automatically closed as RESOLVED WORKSFORME.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures, please read https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
Comment 5 Nate Graham 2025-08-11 19:35:40 UTC
Have you encountered it with any other standalone widgets? Or just this one?
Comment 6 Nate Graham 2025-08-11 19:40:24 UTC
Looking at the code, I see a plausible case where this would happen:

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-pa/-/blob/master/applet/main.qml?ref_type=heads#L203-L204

Basically if it doesn't think it's on a panel, then it will fall back to a width appropriate for a desktop widget, which would correspond to the width you're seeing it have on your panel.

So the question is: why does it think it's not on a panel?

Niccolò, any ideas?
Comment 7 Ellie 2025-08-11 21:01:11 UTC
It happened with just this widget, and it hasn't repeated since. Although that may be because I haven't moved widgets around since then.
Comment 8 Niccolò Venerandi 2025-08-22 09:27:33 UTC
See https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-pa/-/merge_requests/380
I'm not sure we have enough info to be certain that the formFactor is incorrect; but without being able to reproduce this, I think this is the best fix we can come up with at the moment.
Comment 9 Nate Graham 2025-08-22 15:46:10 UTC
Fixed by Niccolò Venerandi with https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-pa/-/commit/2eb34dc04dc4ef1a2cfa5bfe507a8172f0fe29ee for Plasma 6.5.0!
Comment 10 Niccolò Venerandi 2025-08-23 21:36:59 UTC
Git commit 2eb34dc04dc4ef1a2cfa5bfe507a8172f0fe29ee by Niccolò Venerandi.
Committed on 22/08/2025 at 09:25.
Pushed by ngraham into branch 'master'.

Remove unnecessary minimumWidth/minimumHeight distinctions

Only the minimumHeight will be considered on a vertical panel, and
only the minimumWidth will be considered on a horizontal one. When
the applet is not on the panel, the compact representation won't be
used. Thus, we can drop the distinction entirely and avoid any
possible wrong value.

M  +2    -21   applet/main.qml

https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-pa/-/commit/2eb34dc04dc4ef1a2cfa5bfe507a8172f0fe29ee