Created attachment 184245 [details] Dolphin now with breeze SUMMARY The new highlighting for files in dolphin introduced in this commit effectively hardcodes the style of the highlight, making it unthemable for other themes like Oxygen STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Update to latest dolphin 2. Highlight a file with Breeze theme 3. Change theme to Oxygen 4. Highlight the file again 5. Observe that the styling doesn't change for the highlighting OBSERVED RESULT The style of the highlight doesn't change, it still looks rounded and flat like the breeze style. EXPECTED RESULT The style should be what is expected for the Oxygen theme SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.4 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.17.0 Qt Version: 6.9.1 Kernel Version: 6.16.1-arch1-1 (64-bit) Graphics Platform: Wayland ADDITIONAL INFORMATION I have attached some images to illustrate the problem. I use PCManFM QT instead of qt as the "before" image because I can't rollback dolphin
Created attachment 184247 [details] Dolphin now with oxygen
This is the commit that changed the selection effect: https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/c1e71289082ec7416ac19c822393ea70f63d1b75
Created attachment 184248 [details] PCManFM with Oxygen
Created attachment 184249 [details] PCManFM with Breeze
I can confirm it's an issue, sadly there's not much we can do about it since we draw the focus effect in Dolphin and not through Breeze. Alternative solution would be modifying Breeze itself to have this new focus style, but that can cause other problems... So for now I have no solution, sorry. Operating System: Fedora Linux 42 KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.80 KDE Frameworks Version: 6.18.0 Qt Version: 6.9.1 Kernel Version: 6.15.10-200.fc42.x86_64 (64-bit) Graphics Platform: Wayland Processors: 12 × AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor Memory: 16 GiB of RAM (15.5 GiB usable) Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon RX 6600
Is my bug a dupe of this? https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=508404
*** Bug 508404 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
(In reply to pallaswept from comment #6) > Is my bug a dupe of this? https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=508404 Indeed it was, thanks for letting us know. :)
(In reply to Akseli Lahtinen from comment #5) > So for now I have no solution, sorry. Hi Akseli, I saw this issue https://invent.kde.org/teams/vdg/issues/-/issues/94#note_1303588 and I thought it might be better for me to discuss it here first. It seems to me that this shouldn't be rolled out across all the KDE apps if it breaks theming. Maybe we can find some solution here first. I was thinking perhaps there could be some global settings for the selector appearance or something? Do you have any ideas?
> I was thinking perhaps there could be some global settings for the selector appearance or something? Do you have any ideas? Hi, yes, I don't want to break theming either. :D My current potential solutions are: 1. Instead of making the focus styling change in Dolphin, make it in Breeze - This however can cause bad things happening and things breaking and mass hysteria, due to how most apps expect the focus to look like 2. In apps that use this new style, we check if we're using Breeze or not, and if we're using Breeze, do our fancy custom painting - Otherwise do as we have always done 3. Wait for Union to fix it:tm: I'm not sure which route to go here. Changing it in Breeze would make the most sense, but I'm bit worried how much stuff it might break. Might be worth a try though. The second one is safer but I do not like having custom code for one style. And third requires patience :)
Hmm, that's a tough one! I can see that this is already in very capable hands so whichever path you choose, I am confident it will go well, and I will just exercise patience :D Of course, if there is anything at all which I could do to help, please do let me know. Otherwise I will just stay out of the way. Thanks Akseli!!
(In reply to pallaswept from comment #11) > Hmm, that's a tough one! > I can see that this is already in very capable hands so whichever path you > choose, I am confident it will go well, and I will just exercise patience :D > Of course, if there is anything at all which I could do to help, please do > let me know. Otherwise I will just stay out of the way. > > Thanks Akseli!! No worries, let me know if you have further ideas. (Or anyone else who lurks in this bug report!) Believe me, I want this fixed too. It just needs a good approach.
This problem appears to be spreading. https://invent.kde.org/plasma/libplasma/-/commit/3b8f456614755749785ed84d7588ae2bfb21f750
(In reply to pallaswept from comment #13) > This problem appears to be spreading. > https://invent.kde.org/plasma/libplasma/-/commit/ > 3b8f456614755749785ed84d7588ae2bfb21f750 Er, what problem? Those are just SVG files, one can modify them if they wish.
The new highlights look better and I do understand wanting to improve looks. But bypassing kstyle to hardcode Breeze visuals directly in a core KDE app is not the right approach. It would be acceptable if the underlying code was modified and that it required adaptations that other styles then needed to implement. But this hardcodes the appearance in a way that other styles like Oxygen simply can't override. Option 1 from comment #10 is the right approach. Yes, it carries some risk of breakage, but that's a solvable problem and exactly the kind of thing that belongs in a style. Hardcoding visual behavior in application code because it's easier than fixing it in the right place is how we end up with theming that's increasingly Breeze-locked in practice. I'd be happy to help test any changes made through the kstyle path if that's useful.
You are in luck, there is MR to solve this. But it will likely have to wait for Plasma 6.7. https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/merge_requests/1194
Git commit 61b6e173f2647e885814f5c11f9861e7bb9144c2 by Akseli Lahtinen. Committed on 29/03/2026 at 19:16. Pushed by akselmo into branch 'master'. KItemListWidget: Use primitives instead of custom painting We should avoid custom painting since that will cause issues with Union and other styles. We however still use the old hardcoded painting for Breeze style, which can be removed when Breeze 6.8 is released. For other styles, we draw using the primitives the QStyle provides. Also make the icon items less wider for better information density. Related: bug 508294 M +48 -30 src/kitemviews/kitemlistwidget.cpp M +1 -1 src/views/dolphinitemlistview.cpp https://invent.kde.org/system/dolphin/-/commit/61b6e173f2647e885814f5c11f9861e7bb9144c2