--- title: Chromium 154 is causing havoc with people's KDE... description: Chromium 154 introduces a bug that creates broken fontconfig cache symlinks in ~/.cache/fontconfig, causing KDE Plasma and Qt apps to crash, including... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/chromium-154-is-causing-havoc-with-people-s-kde-desktops-but-there-s-a-fix-rw4bgs8xe twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Chromium 154 is causing havoc with people's KDE desktops, but there's a fix | daily.dev og:description: Chromium 154 introduces a bug that creates broken fontconfig cache symlinks in ~/.cache/fontconfig, causing KDE Plasma and Qt apps to crash, including... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/chromium-154-is-causing-havoc-with-people-s-kde-desktops-but-there-s-a-fix-rw4bgs8xe og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rw4bgs8xE.png og:image:alt: Chromium 154 is causing havoc with people's KDE desktops, but there's a fix og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Chromium 154 is causing havoc with people's KDE desktops, but there's a fix **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Chromium 154 introduces a bug that creates broken fontconfig cache symlinks in ~/.cache/fontconfig, causing KDE Plasma and Qt apps to crash, including plasmashell, the panel, and the lock screen. The issue affects any Chromium-based browser, not just Google Chrome, including Brave and Opera. A patch has been pushed to fix the underlying bug, so updating both the browser and system should resolve it; clearing the fontconfig cache directory manually can also help if problems persist. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why is KDE Plasma crashing after updating Chromium to version 154? Chromium 154 has a bug that creates broken fontconfig cache symlinks in ~/.cache/fontconfig, with older cache names pointing to nonexistent cache-12 files. When KDE or Qt apps read this corrupted cache, they can crash, causing plasmashell to crash, the panel to disappear, and lock screen issues. Restarting plasmashell fixes it temporarily but the problem can return after reboot or login. _Anyone chasing down odd desktop crashes after a browser update can follow fixes like this on daily.dev._ ### How do I fix KDE Plasma crashes caused by the Chromium 154 fontconfig bug? Update your Chromium-based browser and your system, since a patch fixing the broken fontconfig cache symlinks has already been pushed out. If crashes persist after updating, manually clear the ~/.cache/fontconfig directory to remove the corrupted cache files that point to nonexistent cache-12 files. _Track practical fixes like this fontconfig cache issue on daily.dev before they disrupt your desktop._ ### Does the Chromium 154 fontconfig bug affect Brave and Opera as well as Chrome? Yes, the bug affects any Chromium-based browser, not just Google Chrome. Because Brave and Opera are built on the same Chromium engine, users of those browsers on KDE Plasma can experience the same fontconfig cache corruption, plasmashell crashes, and lock screen issues caused by version 154. _Users juggling multiple Chromium-based browsers can follow cross-browser bugs like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [KDE Plasma Saw A Lot Of Bug/Crash Fixing & UI Polishing This Week](https://daily.dev/posts/kde-plasma-saw-a-lot-of-bug-crash-fixing-ui-polishing-this-week-wu4orwyfj) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Plasma 6.7](https://daily.dev/posts/plasma-6-7-8xqgwskxu) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [KDE Plasma 6.8 To Support System Monitor With Intel Xe, Plasma 6.7 Sees More Crash Fixes](https://daily.dev/posts/kde-plasma-6-8-to-support-system-monitor-with-intel-xe-plasma-6-7-sees-more-crash-fixes-ezjhhzwno) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#chromium](https://daily.dev/tags/chromium) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/chromium-154-is-causing-havoc-with-people-s-kde-desktops-but-there-s-a-fix-rw4bgs8xe) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Chromium 154 is causing havoc with people's KDE desktops, but there's a fix","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/chromium-154-is-causing-havoc-with-people-s-kde-desktops-but-there-s-a-fix-rw4bgs8xe","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/chromium-154-is-causing-havoc-with-people-s-kde-desktops-but-there-s-a-fix-rw4bgs8xe"},"datePublished":"2026-09-30T04:58:21.137Z","dateModified":"2026-09-30T04:58:48.189Z","description":"Chromium 154 introduces a bug that creates broken fontconfig cache symlinks in ~/.cache/fontconfig, causing KDE Plasma and Qt apps to crash, including...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b04e22ec2b93c5de3787cd2e8eb604ca?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b04e22ec2b93c5de3787cd2e8eb604ca?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/chromium-154-is-causing-havoc-with-people-s-kde-desktops-but-there-s-a-fix-rw4bgs8xe","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,chromium","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Chromium 154 is causing havoc with people's KDE desktops, but there's a fix"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/chromium-154-is-causing-havoc-with-people-s-kde-desktops-but-there-s-a-fix-rw4bgs8xe#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why is KDE Plasma crashing after updating Chromium to version 154?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Chromium 154 has a bug that creates broken fontconfig cache symlinks in ~/.cache/fontconfig, with older cache names pointing to nonexistent cache-12 files. When KDE or Qt apps read this corrupted cache, they can crash, causing plasmashell to crash, the panel to disappear, and lock screen issues. Restarting plasmashell fixes it temporarily but the problem can return after reboot or login. Anyone chasing down odd desktop crashes after a browser update can follow fixes like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I fix KDE Plasma crashes caused by the Chromium 154 fontconfig bug?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Update your Chromium-based browser and your system, since a patch fixing the broken fontconfig cache symlinks has already been pushed out. If crashes persist after updating, manually clear the ~/.cache/fontconfig directory to remove the corrupted cache files that point to nonexistent cache-12 files. 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