diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/builder/linux.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/builder/linux.nix
index 522a621993e7..bb406773d834 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/builder/linux.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/builder/linux.nix
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ lib.makeOverridable mkDerivation (
       mainProgram = pname;
     };
 
+    # FIXME: Do not use meta attributes, see README (`TODO` section)
     desktopItem = makeDesktopItem {
       name = pname;
       exec = pname;
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/aqua.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/aqua.nix
index 8fc7c9a5d53c..ff219361821e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/aqua.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/aqua.nix
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     lldb
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/aqua/";
     description = "Test automation IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/clion.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/clion.nix
index cf9ddaacea3e..0391c23f03ce 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/clion.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/clion.nix
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ in
       xz
     ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/clion/";
     description = "C/C++ IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/datagrip.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/datagrip.nix
index d27cd5a320b7..15be98d7cfd3 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/datagrip.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/datagrip.nix
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
 
   src = fetchurl (urls.${system} or (throw "Unsupported system: ${system}"));
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/datagrip/";
     description = "Database IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/dataspell.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/dataspell.nix
index 59476b2e850a..2b9bc50d6508 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/dataspell.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/dataspell.nix
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     '')
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/dataspell/";
     description = "Data science IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/gateway.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/gateway.nix
index 64f41a18fb93..4610e98e9a6b 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/gateway.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/gateway.nix
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     libgcc
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/remote-development/gateway/";
     description = "Remote development for JetBrains products";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/goland.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/goland.nix
index 3a2ee90fa1ff..e2ca7a5502ca 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/goland.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/goland.nix
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ in
     libgcc
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/go/";
     description = "Go IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-community.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-community.nix
index 1e45499d2ea1..19b81e123367 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-community.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-community.nix
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     ''--set M2 "${maven}/maven/bin"''
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/";
     description = "Free Java, Kotlin, Groovy and Scala IDE from Jetbrains (built from source)";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-oss.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-oss.nix
index f1f3ca2b348a..e2ac3e14d325 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-oss.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea-oss.nix
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     ''--set M2 "${maven}/maven/bin"''
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/";
     description = "Free Java, Kotlin, Groovy and Scala IDE from Jetbrains (built from source)";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea.nix
index 6d155928ff91..beea85af05ef 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/idea.nix
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     musl
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/";
     description = "Java, Kotlin, Groovy and Scala IDE from Jetbrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/mps.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/mps.nix
index 39538cc1bdd5..d01b9ad29d85 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/mps.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/mps.nix
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
 
   src = fetchurl (urls.${system} or (throw "Unsupported system: ${system}"));
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/mps/";
     description = "IDE for building domain-specific languages from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/phpstorm.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/phpstorm.nix
index a3053addba1e..3c05396678d4 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/phpstorm.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/phpstorm.nix
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     musl
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/";
     description = "PHP IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-community.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-community.nix
index 3c1523a4b7a2..2adad4bf5246 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-community.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-community.nix
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ in
 
   src = fetchurl (urls.${system} or (throw "Unsupported system: ${system}"));
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/";
     description = "Free Python IDE from JetBrains (built from source)";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-oss.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-oss.nix
index b580eddec8bf..9b79a69e0ed9 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-oss.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm-oss.nix
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ in
   product = "PyCharm Open Source";
   productShort = "PyCharm";
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/";
     description = "Free Python IDE from JetBrains (built from source)";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm.nix
index 964150a0847f..222642ace59d 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/pycharm.nix
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ in
     musl
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/";
     description = "Python IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rider.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rider.nix
index fc59a6a7eca6..9b454d68c509 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rider.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rider.nix
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ in
     libX11
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/";
     description = ".NET IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/ruby-mine.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/ruby-mine.nix
index 15d85ec916bd..84dc6cb1d887 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/ruby-mine.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/ruby-mine.nix
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     musl
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/ruby/";
     description = "Ruby IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rust-rover.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rust-rover.nix
index db33c1a33087..30289c80def1 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rust-rover.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/rust-rover.nix
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ in
       xz
     ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/rust/";
     description = "Rust IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/webstorm.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/webstorm.nix
index 18a8004da535..bce2d34a87b0 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/webstorm.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/webstorm.nix
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     musl
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm/";
     description = "Web IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/writerside.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/writerside.nix
index 141b994b5ea5..a156e8fdbec5 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/writerside.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/ides/writerside.nix
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ mkJetBrainsProduct {
     musl
   ];
 
+  # NOTE: meta attrs are currently used by the desktop entry, so changing them may cause rebuilds (see TODO in README)
   meta = {
     homepage = "https://www.jetbrains.com/writerside/";
     description = "Documentation IDE from JetBrains";
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/readme.md b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/readme.md
index 53773104adff..220c2b210d9c 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/readme.md
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/jetbrains/readme.md
@@ -56,6 +56,15 @@ Any comments or other manual changes between these markers will be removed when
  - Add it to `default.nix`
 
 ### TODO:
+ - remove the usage of `meta.` properties for building the Linux desktop files
+   (JetBrains already provides their own Desktop files, we can just use those probably?)
+ - drop the community IDEs
+ - Switch `mkJetbrainsProduct` to use `lib.extendMkDerivation`, see also:
+   - https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/475183#discussion_r2655305961
+   - https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/475183#discussion_r2655348886
+ - move PyCharm overrides to a common place outside of `default.nix`
+ - package `patchSharedLibs` from `default.nix` as a hook
+ - cleanup this TODO list, especially the following points, which have been here since 2023
  - replace `libxcrypt-legacy` with `libxcrypt` when supported
  - make `jetbrains-remote-dev.patch` cleaner
  - is extraLdPath needed for IDEA?