[Pkg-xfce-devel] Bug#778738: Cannot restart/shutdown/suspend/hibernate in Xfce logout dialog when using SysV init

[Daniel Richard G.]

Package: xfce4-session
Version: 4.10.1-10

I am setting up a Debian jessie system using sysvinit-core
instead of the default systemd, and the standard Xfce desktop
(via task-xfce-desktop).

When a normal user (created via adduser) is logged into the Xfce
desktop and opens the xfce4-session-logout dialog, the following
buttons are visible:

    Log Out
    Restart (greyed out)
    Shut Down (greyed out)

This compares unfavorably to the same environment installed without
having removed systemd, in which case the following buttons are shown
(none greyed out):

    Log Out
    Restart
    Shut Down
    Suspend
    Hibernate

I believe this issue may relate to policykit-1, which currently depends
on systemd and so is not present when systemd is removed. I've confirmed
that the group membership of the user (adding same to e.g. cdrom,
floppy, audio, dip, video, plugdev ...) does not help with the missing
log-out actions.

I did come across this page at the Xfce site...

    http://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-session/logout

...that describes setting up xfsm-shutdown-helper via sudo to allow
users to restart/etc. But this is a poor solution for a multi-user
system; assuming that two users have this access, one user logged
in via SSH could restart the system while the other is logged in at
the console.