https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=458275
Bug ID: 458275
Summary: "Kill Window" command can kill Plasmashell
Product: kwin
Version: 5.25.4
Platform: Other
OS: Linux
Status: REPORTED
Severity: normal
Priority: NOR
Component: core
Assignee: kwin-bugs-n...@kde.org
Reporter: indecisiveautoma...@gmail.com
Target Milestone: ---
SUMMARY
The KWin "Kill Window" command (by default bound to Ctrl+Alt+Escape") can kill
the Plasmashell process by clicking on an empty desktop. While this is likely
intentional behaviour and I would say it should be expected behaviour, I think
there are a couple of improvements that could be made:
1. Warn a user before they kill Plasmashell, maybe show a dialog and ask a user
to confirm, possibly with the buttons "Ok", "Cancel" and a checkbox to not ask
again. There may be a situation (which I just found myself in) where instead of
clicking on the window I intended to kill, my mouse slipped and I ended up on
another display, and I ended up killing the Plasmashell process. I acknowledge
that this is user error, but there is no obvious way of starting Plasmashell
again as far as I know, aside from the `k5start plasmashell` command. It's not
a hard command but a user would need to need to know this command ahead of
time, and have a command prompt open, or know how to switch to a TTY, etc etc.
What I'm getting at is, for an average user there is no straightforward way of
undoing the Plasmashell kill.
2. If this command is able to kill Plasmashell, maybe "Kill window" is a bit
misleading. But I'm not sure what would be a better name. "Kill process"
doesn't sound quite right either and is perhaps even more misleading.
I see the merit for having the ability to kill Plasmashell with the "Kill
window" command but I feel like this could catch a user off-guard if they did
it accidentally. It's probably not something a lot of users are going to want
to do, and having a prompt to confirm to the user "hey is this really what you
want to do?" could be a good safety net.
This is less of a "bug" I suppose and more of a "usability" suggestion.
STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Activate the "Kill window" KWin action (by default this is bound to
Ctrl+Alt+Escape)
2. Click on an empty desktop
3. Plasmashell process is killed without any warning or obvious way for a
regular user to bring it back
OBSERVED RESULT
Plasmashell process is killed without any warning obvious way of bringing it
back. A user will be unable to access their application launcher and the
desktop experience can become unfamiliar. If the user doesn't know how the
command to start the Plasmashell process again, or doesn't know how to access a
TTY, or has unbound or forgotten the keybind for opening up a terminal window,
they may not be able to start the Plasmashell process again without a reboot.
The "Kill window" command could also have some kind of better name since it is
able to kill the Plasmashell, but this is a lower priority in my opinion.
EXPECTED RESULT
Personally I think being able to kill Plasmashell with the "Kill window"
command has merit, but there should be some kind of warning so only users that
explicitly want to kill the Plasmashell are able to do it, and users that might
do it accidentally (e.g. through a misclick) are given a warning. This provides
users with a safety net while not sacrificing functionality with the "Kill
window" command.
SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 5.19.3-zen1-1-zen (64bit)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.25.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.97.0
Qt Version: 5.15.5
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Using Wayland but this could affect X11 too
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