Having >1 Application Launcher Crashes Plasmashell

Help
1

Hey!

When I add multiple application launchers, plasmashell crashes. Restarting plasmashell does not fix it. I have tried systemctl restart --user plasma-plasmashell.service, killall plasmashell && kstart plasmashell, and kquitapp6 plasmashell; kstart plasmashell, none of which fixed the problem. Tried x11 (I mainly use wayland), nothing. I have also tried the lts kernel, which partly worked (?). Using the LTS kernel, it fixed itself. No clue why. However, I restarted my computer to swap to the Arch Kernel, but the problem reappeared. I tried the LTS kernel again and the problem continued.
The only fix:

  1. Open settings
  2. Navigate to Colors & Themes and then Global Theme
  3. Select one of themes which I am not using (Breeze, Breeze Dark, or Breeze Twilight)
  4. Click it, uncheck Appearance settings, and then check Desktop and window layout
  5. Apply settings
  6. Restart plasma shell with one of the above commands
  7. (Optional) Swap back to the previous theme

Doign this resets the widgets, defaulting to only having one Application Launcher. Barring the application launcher, I have mimicked the taskbar on my second monitor, and it works flawlessly. From my testing, Application Launcher is the only widget with this property of crashing plasmashell when multiple exist at the same time.

Logs

Log made by journalctl --priority=warning..crit --no-pager --boot=91:
https://pastebin.com/BjZUWF2Y
Log made by sudo dmesg:
https://pastebin.com/DgXkyb7z
(Having to markout the links so I can post the topic, not sure what else I’m supposed to do.)

Note: I am using Endeavour OS, an Arch based distro.

If I made any mistakes (I.e., not providing the correct logs or logging format), sorry. Not entirely sure what the “correct” way to do this is. If someone has a link to a resource covering this, it would be much appreciated.

2

Hi!

What Global Theme are you using when this issue does occur?

3

It occurs on all themes. I personally use the Breeze Dark EndevaourOS theme, but it happens even if I am using Breeze/Breeze Dark/Breeze Twilight. That step was just so I could reset the desktop and window layout, as you cannot if you click the theme already in use. I also tested to see if any other widgets cause the crash, and none. I tried all of them and Application Launcher was the only widget that caused the crash.

Systemctl status for plasmashell when the crash occurs 
â—Ź plasma-plasmashell.service - KDE Plasma Workspace
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/plasma-plasmashell.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-01-18 13:15:47 CST; 32s ago
 Invocation: 17f9244c4a6d4251804c75f229630bef
   Main PID: 531445 (plasmashell)
      Tasks: 79 (limit: 27799)
     Memory: 885.6M (peak: 887.4M)
        CPU: 37.460s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/plasma-plasmashell.service
             ├─531445 /usr/bin/plasmashell --no-respawn
             ├─531611 /usr/lib/kf6/kioworker /usr/lib/qt6/plugins/kf6/kio/desktop.so desktop "" local:/run/user/1000/plasmashellNzBRVa.1.kioworker.socket
             └─531613 /usr/lib/kf6/kioworker /usr/lib/qt6/plugins/kf6/kio/tags.so tags "" local:/run/user/1000/plasmashellLraFfD.2.kioworker.socket

Jan 18 13:15:56 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: kf.plasma.quick: Exposed with no visual parent. Window positioning broken.
Jan 18 13:15:59 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.private.systemtray/contents/ui/main.qml:50:9: QML KSortFilterProxyModel: Binding loop detected for property "sourceModel"
Jan 18 13:15:59 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.private.systemtray/contents/ui/main.qml:50:9: QML KSortFilterProxyModel: Binding loop detected for property "sourceModel"
Jan 18 13:15:59 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: error getting max keyboard brightness via dbus QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownObject", "No such object path '/org/kde/Solid/PowerManagement/Actions/KeyboardBrightness>
Jan 18 13:15:59 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: QFont::setPointSizeF: Point size <= 0 (0.000000), must be greater than 0
Jan 18 13:15:59 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: QFont::setPointSizeF: Point size <= 0 (0.000000), must be greater than 0
Jan 18 13:16:01 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: kf.plasma.quick: Exposed with no visual parent. Window positioning broken.
Jan 18 13:16:01 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: file:///usr/share/plasma/shells/org.kde.plasma.desktop/contents/configuration/PanelConfiguration.qml:568:9: QML SpinBox: Binding loop detected for property "implicitWidth":
                                                      qrc:/qt/qml/org/kde/plasma/components/SpinBox.qml:20:5
Jan 18 13:16:01 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.panel/contents/ui/ConfigOverlay.qml:349:17: QML SpinBox: Binding loop detected for property "implicitWidth":
                                                      qrc:/qt/qml/org/kde/plasma/components/SpinBox.qml:20:5
Jan 18 13:16:02 omni-dellg155515 plasmashell[531445]: kf.plasma.quick: Exposed with no visual parent. Window positioning broken.
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4

Ah, I see what you mean about the theme choice, thanks! I can’t personally reproduce the crash by adding a second Application Launcher widget to my panel. Is there a specific arrangement or action after adding the widget that triggers the crash?

Also, when plasmashell crashes, are you given a choice to report it through the Crashed Processes Viewer? If not, a good next step may be to directly file a report through the KDE Bugtracking System for this crash, making sure to include a backtrace using the instructions here: Guidelines and HOWTOs/Debugging/How to create useful crash reports - KDE Community Wiki - the specific procedure I’ve had the best luck with is using coredumpctl.

5

No, it happens whenever I have multiple application launchers. I can be in edit mode and then I add another application launcher, crash. If I have multiple application launchers, I can restart my computer (not open edit mode) and plasmashell still crashes.

No, I am not.

It seems to have stopped happening… for now? No clue why, no clue if it’s even fixed. I just attached the gbd debugger to it → attempted to cause the crash → nothing, it worked as intended. I am thoroughly confused, but am glad to see the problem fixed(?). I restarted my computer twice to make sure it wasn’t some fluke, but it is continuing to work without issue. If applauncher starts to cause issues with plasmashell, I’ll make an update. Thanks for your help! Even if I didn’t find the cause of the issue, I learned a helpful skill of GDB lol.

1 Like
6

My personal explanation for things like that is, the gremlins that were causing the problem got scared of you catching them, and ran away!

If it does end up happening again, the thing I like about the approach using coredumpctl to locate a previous crash is that, normally, you don’t need to have already been debugging the process in order to still get a useful backtrace :slight_smile: