Text: Hello everyone,
First of all, huge props to the developers. CachyOS’s speed, kernel optimizations, and overall gaming performance are absolutely tier-one. You guys are doing an amazing job under the hood. However, I have recently experienced a massive headache regarding the KDE Plasma 6 customization layer.
I wanted to customize my desktop with a full macOS layout using the WhiteSur-dark global theme. I followed all the standard and advanced procedures:
Applied the theme via plasma-apply-lookandfeel
Directly manipulated config files like plasmarc using kwriteconfig6
Nuke-cleared user and system graphic caches (~/.cache/plasma* and /var/cache/*) multiple times
Even used root privileges to physically overwrite the default system theme inside /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default with WhiteSur assets, and forced the widget engine via Kvantum.
The result? The window borders, global menus, application layouts, and the dock look absolutely flawless. However, the System Tray (clock, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, quick settings menu) stubbornly refuses to change and keeps rendering with CachyOS’s default, flat, chunky Windows 11-like style.
I honestly applaud whoever designed this configuration hierarchy in Plasma 6 to be so aggressively hardcoded that it completely bypasses and overrides direct user configurations and system-level folder overwrites. It shouldn’t be this difficult or restrictive to change a widget style.
Please consider lowering the priority of your default desktop theme overrides so that users can actually customize their entire desktop without the System Tray acting like an un-themeable standalone state.
Performance is incredible, but please don’t lock down the visuals so aggressively!
Don’t do this…and if you do don’t expect it to persist.
You can clearly see what settings are applied and even remove them completely by uninstalling the cachyos-kde-settings package if you want.
@ pacman -Fl cachyos-kde-settings
cachyos-kde-settings etc/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/Trolltech.conf
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/arkrc
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/baloofilerc
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/dconf/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/dconf/user
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/gtk-3.0/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/gtk-4.0/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/gtk-4.0/settings.ini
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/kcminputrc
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/kdedefaults/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/kdedefaults/kdeglobals
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/kdedefaults/kwinrc
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/kdeglobals
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/kwinrc
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/libinput-gestures.conf
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/plasmashellrc
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/xsettingsd/
cachyos-kde-settings etc/skel/.config/xsettingsd/xsettingsd.conf
cachyos-kde-settings usr/
cachyos-kde-settings usr/lib/
cachyos-kde-settings usr/lib/sddm/
cachyos-kde-settings usr/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d/
cachyos-kde-settings usr/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d/general.conf
cachyos-kde-settings usr/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d/zz-wayland.conf
Nothing in Cachy is aggressively forcing visuals onto you. Just don’t edit files in /usr, as @mattsteg mentioned:
In the Linux file system hierarchy, the `/usr` directory plays a crucial role. It stands for Unix System Resources in traditional Unix systems, although in modern Linux, the meaning is more abstract. The `/usr` folder is designed to hold shareable,...
Also to provide more detail the following packages own this folder:
pacman -F /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/
usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/ is owned by cachyos-extra-v3/kdeplasma-addons 6.4.2-1.1
usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/ is owned by cachyos-extra-v3/libplasma 6.4.2-1.1
usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/ is owned by extra/kdeplasma-addons 6.4.2-1
usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/ is owned by extra/libplasma 6.4.2-1
out of those libplasma is what provides the actual default themes and that’s just upstream Arch/KDE:
@ pacman -Fl libplasma|grep theme
libplasma usr/include/Plasma/plasma/theme.h
libplasma usr/lib/qt6/plugins/kf6/packagestructure/plasma_theme.so
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-dark/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-dark/colors
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-dark/metadata.json
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-dark/plasmarc
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-light/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-light/colors
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-light/metadata.json
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/breeze-light/plasmarc
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/dialogs/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/dialogs/background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/akonadi.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/akregator.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/amarok.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/applications.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/apport.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/audio.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/battery.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/bookmarks.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/cantata.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/computer.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/configure.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/device.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/disk.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/distribute.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/document.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/drive.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/edit.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/fcitx.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/go.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/ime.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/input.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kalarm.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kdeconnect.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/keyboard.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kget.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kgpg.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kleopatra.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/klipper.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kmail.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/konv_message.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/konversation.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kopete.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/korgac.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kpackagekit.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kruler.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kteatime.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/ktorrent.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/kup.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/list.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/mail.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/media.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/mobile.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/network.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/notification.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/osd.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/phone.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/plasmavault.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/plasmavault_error.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/preferences.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/printer.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/quassel.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/search.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/slc.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/software.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/start.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/system.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/touchpad.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/user.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/video-card.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/video.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/view.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/vlc.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/wallet.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/window.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/yakuake.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/zoom.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/metadata.json
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/opaque/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/opaque/dialogs/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/opaque/dialogs/background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/opaque/widgets/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/opaque/widgets/panel-background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/opaque/widgets/tooltip.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/plasmarc
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/solid/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/solid/dialogs/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/solid/dialogs/background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/solid/widgets/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/solid/widgets/background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/solid/widgets/panel-background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/solid/widgets/tooltip.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/translucent/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/translucent/dialogs/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/translucent/dialogs/background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/translucent/widgets/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/translucent/widgets/background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/translucent/widgets/panel-background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/translucent/widgets/tooltip.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/action-overlays.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/actionbutton.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/analog_meter.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/arrows.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/bar_meter_horizontal.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/bar_meter_vertical.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/branding.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/busywidget.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/button.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/calendar.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/checkmarks.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/clock.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/configuration-icons.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/containment-controls.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/dragger.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/frame.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/glowbar.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/line.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/lineedit.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/listitem.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/margins-highlight.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/media-delegate.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/menubaritem.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/monitor.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/notes.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/pager.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/panel-background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/picker.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/plasmoidheading.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/plot-background.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/radiobutton.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/scrollbar.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/scrollwidget.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/slider.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/switch.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/tabbar.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/tasks.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/toolbar.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/tooltip.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/translucentbackground.svgz
libplasma usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/widgets/viewitem.svgz