Duplicate Emacs icons in Task Manager when using emacsclient

[Rens Oliemans]

Hi all,

I'm using KDE Plasma version 6.2.3, and I'm having trouble pinning my
emacsclient application to my Task Manager (specifically, I have trouble keeping
it pinned). I have two application entries of Emacs:

  - "Emacs",          with 'Exec=emacs %F'
  - "Emacs Client",   with 'Exec=sh -c "if [ -n \\"\\$*\\" ]; then exec /usr/local/stow/emacs/bin/emacsclient --alternate-editor= --display=\\"\\$DISPLAY\\" \\"\\$@\\"; else exec emacsclient --alternate-editor= --create-frame; fi" sh %F'

Note that this particular machine runs Emacs via a local checkout in
/usr/local/stow/emacs, but this same issue persists on my other machine which
has Emacs installed via my package manager 'regularly'.

I like to use emacs in --daemon mode, so I generally use the Client version.
However, sometimes KDE doesn't see the running emacsclient as the same
application as the pinned program anymore. The (unfortunately nondeterministic)
problem/reproduction steps are thus:

  - Open emacs: open the "Emacs (Client)" application within the program.
  - Pin that application to the Task Manager.
  - Wait for some while. Sometimes a reboot is enough, often it takes a day or
    two of random actions, even when nothing is done to the Task Manager or KDE
    settings.
  - The running emacsclient is not longer "associated" with the pinned desktop
    entry in the Task Manager. This means that there are two icons: the pinned
    icon without any associated application; and the running emacs application.
    Since I want to select my running Emacs with Meta+1, I have to unpin the
    pinned one and pin the second one again.

I haven't figured out a way to make this easily reproducable, apologies for
that. I do believe however that this isn't just my configuration, since it
happened on a clean install and these users all have the same problem:

  - https://old.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/1fcj46g/issues_with_duplicate_emacs_on_icons_only_task/
    This user claims that "after the weekend" the problem occurs, both on Plasma
    6 and back on Plasma 5.27.5.
  - https://forum.manjaro.org/t/pinned-emacs-is-not-grouped-on-task-manager/134182
  - https://forum.manjaro.org/t/pinned-emacs-is-not-grouped-on-task-manager/134182/6
  - https://fluca1978.github.io/2023/07/15/EmacsDaemonSystemDKDE.htlm
    See the "Conclusions" section.

If it's relevant, the StartupWMClass is "Emacs" in both .desktop files.

Is there a workaround for this? Since the behaviour suddenly changes without
modifications to the Task Manager, it feels like a bug. Or am I misunderstanding
something? I'm happy to provide more information or try something out.

Best,
Rens

PS: My email bounced, I hope that this isn't a duplicate.