[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#536490: Bug#536490: gnome-system-tools: Asks for root password instead of user password via sudo (root disabled)

[Michael Biebl]

severity 536490 wishlist
retitle 536490 enable sudo like behaviour when system uses disabled root account
thanks

Josselin Mouette wrote:
> reassign 536490 policykit
> thanks
> 
> Le vendredi 10 juillet 2009 à 12:41 +0200, Julien BEHEM a écrit :
>> When launching any gnome-system-tools utility and clicking on the
>> unlock button, it asks for root password but root account is disabled
>> and system is using sudo (working well in console, sudo is well
>> configured, and sudo-mode is set to true for gksu in gconf editor).
>> I saw an old bugreport of 2008 (number 412982) describing maybe the
>> same problem and solved by upgrading to 2.16 or 2.17 version, but i'm
>> using 2.22...
> 
> This is a current limitation of PolicyKit.
> 

That is not really a limitation, but a configuration issue. PK can be setup (as
e.g. Ubuntu does), to allow for a sudo like behaviour.
If you replace the exiting configuration in /etc/PolicyKit/PolicyKit.conf with
<config version="0.1">
    <match user="root">
        <return result="yes"/>
    </match>
    <define_admin_auth group="admin"/>
</config>
you should get the same behaviour on Debian (assuming Debian also uses the
"admin" group for this).

Given that the default on Debian is to not use sudo and have an enabled root
account, the current configuration is imho ok.
I was wondering if maybe the installer should create this configuration when the
sudo option is enabled during installation or if there is a way to detect this
within the policykit postinst/preinst and maybe mangle the file accordingly.

Cheers,
Michael
-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

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