Bug 185517 - auth-as-self should be used in Gnome "System->Administration->..." menus
Summary: auth-as-self should be used in Gnome "System->Administration->..." menus
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: gnome-desktop
Version: 7
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Ray Strode [halfline]
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2006-03-15 14:10 UTC by Uno Engborg
Modified: 2008-06-17 01:11 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2008-06-17 01:11:55 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Uno Engborg 2006-03-15 14:10:10 UTC
Description of problem:

In large Linux installations you often have a need for more than one
person doing administrative tasks. These admins should typically not
all have access to the root password, as this makes it hard to log
who made the changes or the helping admins shouldn't have full root
priviledges. So they use sudo.

Unfortunately the Gnome "System->Administraion->..." tools all ask
for rhe root password to be run. They should support sudo.

Ubuntu allready does this, perhaps you could borrow some code from
them.  Changeing this behavior would make Fedora much more "Enterprise ready"

Related bug in the gnome bugzilla is 309672

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Gnome 2.x

Comment 1 Dimitris Glezos 2006-05-09 20:02:58 UTC
(confirmed.)

This is important to many workstations at companies and universities. Most of
the times people are not given the root password; instead they are just sudo'ed.

To open up a GUI as root (say, gedit /etc/foo), one should do:

> xhost +root (or even worse, xhost +)
> sudo gedit ...
> (...wait until the window opens up)
> xhost -

(probably there is an easier way, but still, it's far more difficult than the
default behaviour of consolehelper that Uno Engborg described).

Fedora, *in addition* to consolehelper, should support administrative tasks
using the sudo environment. Both in the menus and for commands.

Commands should support something like gtksu (never tried it, since it is not
included in Extras!). Users should have the option to choose the portable
consolehelper *or* the applicable sudo-way.

Comment 2 Matthew Miller 2006-07-25 18:08:09 UTC
From a message I posted on the FE list:

Put the user in the group "wheel". Put "UGROUPS=wheel" in the corresponding
consolehelper config file. Presto -- sudo-like behavior. (Any group can be used;
doesn't have to be wheel -- that's just traditional for this sort of thing.)

(But the policykit approach is the best for the future -- running GUI apps
as root is just asking for trouble.)


Comment 3 Edward Rudd 2006-10-17 19:06:54 UTC
the UGROUPS=groupname does work (really nice), however the issue is I have to
set it for EVERY single service as I saw no global config file that could set
the default for ALL services.

Comment 4 Matthew Miller 2006-10-17 21:29:10 UTC
In the future, some sort of dbus-based system will do this in a more secure way,
with administrative tasks accomplished without ever having to run GUI code as
root. Because of that, it's unlikely that much more development work will be
invested here.

In the meantime, if you want to enble this for all programs,  you could do
something like:

for f in $( find /etc/security/console.apps/ -type f ); do
   echo "UGROUPS=groupname" >> $f
done



Comment 5 Matthew Miller 2007-04-06 16:12:35 UTC
Fedora Core 5 and Fedora Core 6 are, as we're sure you've noticed, no longer
test releases. We're cleaning up the bug database and making sure important bug
reports filed against these test releases don't get lost. It would be helpful if
you could test this issue with a released version of Fedora or with the latest
development / test release. Thanks for your help and for your patience.

[This is a bulk message for all open FC5/FC6 test release bugs. I'm adding
myself to the CC list for each bug, so I'll see any comments you make after this
and do my best to make sure every issue gets proper attention.]


Comment 6 Uno Engborg 2007-06-19 23:23:33 UTC
This is still a problem in the latest fedora version


Comment 7 Uno Engborg 2007-06-19 23:27:00 UTC
Thanks to all of you that have provided work arounds. The problem is that they
are too complex for most people to handle. This probably needs to be handled in
a GUI.

Comment 8 Matthew Miller 2007-06-20 00:01:35 UTC
Changing the subject to be more generic -- sudo isn't the only way of doing this.
(See my previous comments.)

Comment 9 Bug Zapper 2008-05-14 11:59:48 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 7 is nearing the end of life. Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining and issuing updates for Fedora 7. It is Fedora's policy to close all bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 'version' of '7'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 7's end of life.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 7 is end of life. If you would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this bug. If you are unable to change the version, please add a comment here and someone will do it for you.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes bugs or makes them obsolete. If possible, it is recommended that you try the newest available Fedora distribution to see if your bug still exists.

Please read the Release Notes for the newest Fedora distribution to make sure it will meet your needs:
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The process we are following is described here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Comment 10 Bug Zapper 2008-06-17 01:11:53 UTC
Fedora 7 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on June 13, 2008. 
Fedora 7 is no longer maintained, which means that it will not 
receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we 
are closing this bug. 

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version 
of Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.


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