Ive just done a fresh install of linux mint KDE edition, and the leave dialog box (with shutdown, suspend, etc) is a dark colour, with black text, making it unreadable.
I am using the default "Air for netbooks" theme, the plasma-netbook workspace, and the default colour scheme. I also have compositing turned on.


Linux Mint 16 KDE 32bit
KDE 4.11.3
Have updated all packages, but didn't make any different.

Anyone know how to fix this? I have tried using a few different themes and colour schemes, but it hasn't made any difference.

Does this occur under a new user? It could be a bug, or a badly cached image (which a new user will eliminate as part of the problem).

I just created a new user to test.
By default it was in the plasma-desktop environment, in which the leave dialog works fine and looks correct.
However as soon as I change the workspace to plasma-netbook (which is the one I want to use, as this is on a netbook).
The leave dialog goes black like the image I posted previously.

Also noticed when I went to switch users that this also affects the lock screen. With a similar look.

The window is black (0,0,0,255) where it's supposed to be transparent (0,0,0,0)

Looks like the window has a shadow, so compositing is enabled and the window likely ARGB.

To determine depth, move to VT1 (Ctrl+Alt+F1), login

Code: Select all

export DISPLAY=:0


Move back to VT7 (Ctrl+Alt+F7) and initiate the logout. Next things have to happen before the autologout timeout hits!
Move back to VT1

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xwininfo | grep Depth


Move back to VT7 and click the window with the + cursor.
Afterwards you may or not skip the logout, doesn't matter (but do not shutdown or reboot!)

Back on VT1 the command will have printed:
Depth: 24
or
Depth: 32

32 is ARGB, 24 explains why it's black.

If it's ARGB, it could be simply broken cache data (after your last comment: unlikely), try to remove

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rm /var/tmp/kdecache-`whoami`/plasma_theme*

Just tried to do that, but it seems the leave dialog is locking the mouse or something.
Because xwininfo returns an error that it can't grab the mouse. But if i close the leave dialog, it works fine.

I tried running the command to delete the cache anyway, but that made no difference ether.

-- edit --

Just got xwininfo to lock the mouse first. then went back to vt7 and used ctrl+alt+del to bring up leave dialog so i can click it.

result is "Depth: 32"

Does disabling compositing (Ctrl + Alt + F12) produce any difference under Plasma Netbook?

No disabling compositing doesn't fix it.
If anything it makes things worse, as the entire background behind the leave dialog goes black, and all my icons and panels vanish.

That's the themefile:
/usr/share/apps/desktoptheme/air-netbook/widgets/background.svgz

Since you say the default theme works(?), it will be the theme, so you might want to inspect it in eg. inkscape.

(?) Does selecting "Air" in "kcmshell4 desktoptheme" work as expected?

I checked that file in inkscape, and it looks correct, has transparency, correct colours, etc.

No, changing themes doesn't fix it. I've tried all the default (and a few more) themes and colour schemes.
They all act the same. Everything else works fine, widgets have the transparency, as do popups, menus and all other display elements.
It is only the leave dialog and lock screen which appear to be affected, and that is only within plasma-netbook.

Just some extra info, this was a fresh install of linuxmint 16 with kde 4.11.3.
I had previously used linux mint 15 with kde 4.10 and this wasn't an issue as far as i remember.

Does it happen with all gui styles? (oxygen, plastique, bespin, qtcurve, skulpture, ...)

Yes, jus tried all them as well. No luck

Just found out, if I switch back to plasma-desktop, change the theme, then switch back to plasma-netbook.
The leave dialog looks fine for that theme. If I then change the theme in plasma-netbook, it changes for everything except the leave and lock screen dialogs. So that dark look I had was probably because I had the Oxygen theme originally. By going to plasma-desktop and appling a lighter theme, the plasma-netbook leave dialog is now stuck on a lighter colour, instead of black.

So from what I can gather, the underlying issue is: themes applied in the plasma-netbook workspace, are not being applied to the leave dialog and lock screen dialog, even after a reboot.

I have the same issue 4 years later and seem to have the solutiion, hence bumping the ancient thread. Hopefully it helps anyone else.

My logout screen also turns quite black, making the icons and text unreadable. That's caused by the "Background contrast" desktop effect that increases the contrast for blurred window making dark tones darker. When I disabled it the logout promt screen seems much more readable. You may also want to play with the "Blur" effect too.