https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=513562
Bug ID: 513562
Summary: Thumnails of PDF files
Classification: Applications
Product: dolphin
Version First 25.11.80
Reported In:
Platform: Other
OS: Linux
Status: REPORTED
Severity: normal
Priority: NOR
Component: general
Assignee: [email protected]
Reporter: [email protected]
CC: [email protected]
Target Milestone: ---
đź”´ Bug report draft (ready to submit)
Product: Dolphin
Component: General / Thumbnails
Version: Dolphin (Plasma 6, Qt6)
Severity: normal
Platform: Linux
OS: Kubuntu 25.10 (Plasma 6)
Summary
Dolphin endlessly spawns Ghostscript and fails to generate PDF thumbnails on
external mounts (/mnt), while image thumbnails work
Description
On Kubuntu 25.10 (Plasma 6), Dolphin fails to generate PDF thumbnails for files
located on an external hard drive mounted under /mnt/....
Image thumbnails (JPG/PNG) work correctly on the same mount.
PDF thumbnails are generated correctly by GNOME Files (Nautilus), and once
generated there, Dolphin can display them from the shared thumbnail cache.
However, when Dolphin attempts to generate PDF thumbnails by itself, it
repeatedly spawns Ghostscript, which immediately exits with an unrecoverable
error. This results in an infinite loop of failed attempts and continuous log
spam.
Steps to Reproduce
Mount an external drive via /etc/fstab under /mnt/...
Place PDF files on that drive
Open the directory in Dolphin
Enable thumbnail previews for PDF/PostScript in Dolphin settings
Expected Result
PDF thumbnails should be generated once and displayed normally
Dolphin should stop retrying on failure
Actual Result
No PDF thumbnails are generated
Dolphin repeatedly spawns Ghostscript processes
journalctl --user -f shows endless errors like:
dolphin[PID]: GPL Ghostscript 10.05.0: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
CPU usage and logs increase continuously until the view is closed
Additional Observations
JPG/PNG thumbnails work correctly on the same mount
The same PDF files generate thumbnails correctly in GNOME Files (Nautilus)
Once GNOME generates the thumbnails, Dolphin can display them (shared
~/.cache/thumbnails)
Disabling PDF previews in Dolphin immediately stops the errors
Running Dolphin with GS_OPTIONS=-dNOSAFER does not change the behavior
strace -f -e execve dolphin does not show Ghostscript being execve’d, despite
the repeated errors logged by Dolphin
Logs
>From journalctl --user -f while opening a directory with PDFs:
dolphin[40424]: GPL Ghostscript 10.05.0: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dolphin[40425]: GPL Ghostscript 10.05.0: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dolphin[40426]: GPL Ghostscript 10.05.0: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
...
(repeats indefinitely)
Environment
Kubuntu 25.10
Plasma 6
Dolphin (Qt6 / KF6)
Ghostscript 10.05.0
External HDD mounted via /etc/fstab under /mnt/...
Filesystem: (fill in if desired, e.g. ext4)
Workaround
Disable “PDF / PostScript” previews in Dolphin
Or generate thumbnails once via GNOME Files
Notes
This appears to be a regression or error-handling bug in Dolphin’s PDF
thumbnail generation path (Ghostscript invocation). Dolphin does not stop
retrying after repeated failures.
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