https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=525752
Bug ID: 525752
Summary: Comic Strip applet providers for Calvin and Hobbes and
Dilbert fail to retrieve comics
Classification: Plasma
Product: plasmashell
Version First master
Reported In:
Platform: Other
OS: Linux
Status: REPORTED
Severity: normal
Priority: NOR
Component: Comic widget
Assignee: [email protected]
Reporter: [email protected]
Target Milestone: 1.0
Created attachment 196160
--> https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=196160&action=edit
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Description: The Plasma Comic Strip applet cannot load several comic providers.
Calvin and Hobbes and Dilbert consistently fail with a "plugin reported an
error" message. The Calvin and Hobbes provider uses GoComics as its source, but
requests to GoComics currently return HTTP 403. The same HTTP 403 occurs when
accessing GoComics directly with curl. The Plasma journal reports: Provider
returned null image "", "calvinandhobbes:2026-09-14" plugin reported an error.,
and "dilbert:2026-09-14" plugin reported an error. The installed Calvin and
Hobbes provider is an old Kross/ECMAScript provider using
plasma_comic_krossprovider. Its main.es script expects the GoComics HTML
structure and extracts the comic image from data-image or class="strip".
Because GoComics returns HTTP 403, the provider cannot retrieve the expected
HTML or image.
Steps to Reproduce: 1. Add the Comic Strip widget to a KDE Plasma desktop. 2.
Select Calvin and Hobbes as the comic. 3. Wait for the comic to be downloaded.
4. Observe that the comic is unavailable. 5. Select Dilbert and observe that it
also fails. 6. Run curl -I -L https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes in a
terminal. 7. Observe that the server returns HTTP/2 403. 8. Run curl -4 -I -L
https://www.gocomics.com/garfield and observe that it also returns HTTP/2 403.
Observed Result: The Comic Strip widget displays the selected comics as
unavailable. The Plasma journal contains Provider returned null image "",
"calvinandhobbes:2026-09-14" plugin reported an error., and
"dilbert:2026-09-14" plugin reported an error. Direct requests to GoComics also
return HTTP/2 403. The response comes from BunnyCDN and includes
cdn-requestcountrycode: BR. The Calvin and Hobbes provider depends on the
GoComics website and therefore cannot obtain the expected HTML/image.
Expected Result: The Comic Strip applet should retrieve and display the
selected comic. If an external comic provider is no longer accessible or its
website structure has changed, the provider should be updated to use a
currently supported source or fail gracefully with a useful error instead of
returning an empty image.
Software/OS Versions: Operating System: Arch Linux; KDE Plasma Version: 6.7.5;
KDE Frameworks Version: UNKNOWN; Qt Version: 6.11.2; kdeplasma-addons:
6.7.5-1.1; plasma-workspace: 6.7.5-1.1; qt6-webengine: 6.11.2-1.
Additional Information: The affected comic providers are installed under
~/.local/share/plasma/comics/. The Calvin and Hobbes provider contains
X-KDE-Library=plasma_comic_krossprovider and X-KDE-PluginInfo-Version=1.9, with
its provider code located at contents/code/main.es. The provider uses
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/ and then requests a date-specific
page. The Garfield provider uses the same plasma_comic_krossprovider library
and also uses GoComics. Direct requests to both Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield
return HTTP 403. Example response: HTTP/2 403, server: BunnyCDN-BR1-1339,
cdn-requestcountrycode: BR. This suggests that the existing GoComics-based
providers are no longer compatible with the current access restrictions or
website behavior. The issue does not appear to be related to KIO, SSL
certificates, or the Baloo search runner.
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