Add freedesktop-compliant icon resolver (POC)

[feltfomo]

[POC] Icon Resolver with Persistent Caching

Status

Proof-of-concept submission. This demonstrates an alternative approach to icon resolution. Submitting for consideration - not planning active maintenance.

What It Does

A Rust-based icon resolver that:

• Follows theme inheritance chains for better icon matching
• Persistently caches results
• Automatically handles theme changes
• Uses parallel directory scanning

Performance

• Cold start (Papirus-Dark, 18k icons): ~300ms
• Warm start (cached): ~8ms

Changes

New Files

• Services/Icons/IconResolver.qml - Manages Rust binary
• Services/Icons/AppSearch.qml - Icon resolution + fallback
• Services/Icons/icon-resolver/ - Rust binary

Modified Files

• ActiveWindow.qml, Dock.qml, Launcher.qml, shell.qml

Screenshots

Before (current Noctalia)

List View:

Grid View:

After (with resolver)

Adwaita - List View:

Adwaita - Grid View:

Papirus Dark - List View:

Papirus Dark - Grid View:

Building

cd Services/Icons/icon-resolver
cargo build --release

Testing

Tested on Arch Linux with Hyprland using Papirus-Dark, Adwaita, and hicolor themes.

Known Issues

• Dock icons may show as fallbacks on shell startup if apps are already running. Icons update correctly when Dock refreshes (like opening a new program).
• Custom command icons (>emoji, >clip, >calc, etc.) currently show fallback icons for two of the icons instead of proper.

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Submitting as POC - feel free to use, modify, or close. No expectation of merge or maintenance.