Panel is invisible after logging into a Wayland session

[clmaes]

When using Fancy Tasks NG together with Panel Coloration on a panel configured with Fit Content, the panel is invisible after logging into a Wayland session.

The panel itself is still present and functional, but it is not displayed until I open Edit Panel mode. As soon as the panel configuration screen is opened, the panel immediately becomes visible and continues to work normally.

The issue does not occur when:

Panel Coloration is disabled.
The standard KDE Task Manager is used instead of Fancy Tasks NG.
The panel width is set to a fixed size instead of Fit Content.

This appears to be a startup-related issue involving the interaction between Fancy Tasks NG and Panel Coloration when the panel width is calculated from its contents.

Environment

Fedora 44
KDE Plasma 6.6.5
Wayland session

Steps to reproduce

Create a bottom panel.
Set the panel width mode to Fit Content.
Add Fancy Tasks NG to the panel.
Enable Panel Coloration.
Log out and log back in (or reboot).

Actual result
After login, the panel is invisible. The panel becomes visible immediately when entering Edit Panel mode.

Restarting plasmashell does not resolve the issue.

Expected result
The panel should be visible immediately after login.

[DayDve]

Thanks for reporting!

The issue happens because the task model is empty during early shell startup, which caused the plasmoid to temporarily report zero size. In Wayland, when a "Fit Content" panel shrinks to zero, KWin freezes it in an invisible state until layout recalculation is forced (e.g. by opening edit mode).

I've committed a fix to prevent the plasmoid from shrinking to zero during the initial startup phase before the task model is ready.

Could you please test the latest code from the develop branch and let me know if it fixes the issue for you?

[clmaes]

Can you tell me how to do that. I have download the zip file and start the command make install. I got the error:
[INFO] Compiling translations...
[ERROR] msgfmt command not found. Need to install gettext.
[INFO] Running 'sudo apt install gettext'
[sudo] wachtwoord voor clemens:
sudo: apt: opdracht niet gevonden
[ERROR] Script failed at line 27!
[ERROR] Script failed at line 13!
make: *** [Makefile:13: install] Fout 1

i use fedora 44

[DayDve]

Oh. My apologies. I'll add Fedora's full support a little later.
In the meantime, please, install msgfmt manually using your package manager:

sudo dnf install gettext

And run

make update

If plasmoid is already installed

Or

make install

If plasmoid is not installed yet

[clmaes]

it didn't help. problem the same

[DayDve]

I'm unable to reproduce this on my end with Fit Content + Panel Colorizer enabled on Plasma 6.7. There's already a fix in develop (commit 0e30744) that addresses the plasmoid shrinking to zero on startup when the task model is empty.

Could you please:

1. Pull the latest changes from the develop branch and run make update.
2. If the issue reproduces, run make diag from the repo root and attach the generated fancytasks-diag.txt file.

[clmaes]

fancytasks-diag.txt

[clmaes]

After updating to the latest develop version, I noticed a new issue with the task indicators.

Only the currently active application shows an indicator. All other open applications no longer display an indicator.

When I switch to another open application, the indicator moves to that application and disappears from the previously active one.

Expected behavior: all open applications should display their indicator, while the active application may have a different or highlighted indicator style.

[DayDve]

Hi @clmaes!

1. Original Issue: Is the original panel startup invisibility issue (with "Fit Content" + Panel Coloration on Wayland) still relevant or occurring on your system on the latest develop branch?

2. Indicator Issue: I have refactored the indicators logic in commit 44d4aa9 to ensure that task indicators are always consistently displayed for all running applications (both active and inactive). Please pull the latest develop branch and run make update.

⚠️ Note: Please open a separate GitHub issue for any new or unrelated bug reports in the future. Combining multiple unrelated bugs into a single issue makes tracking difficult, and unrelated reports posted in existing threads will not be reviewed.

[clmaes]

You're right. The indicator problem is a separate issue. I'll open a new issue for that and keep this one focused on the panel visibility problem.

[clmaes]

I pulled the latest develop branch, ran make update, and logged out/in again.

Unfortunately, the original issue is still present:

After login, the panel is not visible.
Opening Edit Panel mode does not immediately fix the issue. The panel only becomes visible after exiting Edit Panel mode.

In other words, entering and then leaving Edit Panel mode causes the panel to appear and function normally until the next login.

[DayDve]

Hi @clmaes,

I am unable to reproduce this issue in my environment (KDE Neon 24.04, Plasma 6.6 & 6.7, Wayland, Panel Colorizer v7.0.1 and earlier) with a "Fit Content" panel — everything initializes and displays correctly on startup.

To help narrow this down:

1. Test on a clean user profile: Could you please create a temporary fresh user account (sudo useradd -m testuser), log into it, set up the panel with Panel Colorizer + Fancy Tasks NG, and check if the issue reproduces there?
2. Panel Colorizer settings: Which preset or settings are you using in Panel Colorizer? (e.g., specific island margins, autohide, or custom rules)
3. Debug Log: Please run the following command in a terminal to restart plasmashell with panel layout debugging enabled, and attach the output:

   QT_LOGGING_RULES="plasma.containments.panel.debug=true" plasmashell --replace