Description of problem: The authconfig man page states that "If --test action is specified, authconfig can be run by users other then root, and any configuration changes are not saved but printed instead." However, if I try to run "authconfig --test" as an unprivileged user, it brings up a modal dialog stating "You are attempting to run "authconfig" which requires administrative privileges, but more information is needed in order to do so" and quits if I hit cancel. I'm not sure whether there's a bug, or if it's just outdated information in the man page. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): authconfig-6.1.11-1.fc14.x86_64
I've also checked with Fedora 15 and found that it still requires authentication with authconfig-6.1.13-1.fc15.x86_64.
Authconfig uses consolehelper for the root authentication. If you run directly the /usr/sbin/authconfig binary, it will not attempt the consolehelper authentication and will runt the --test fine as an unprivileged user.
Aah, then the authconfig man page should clearly reflect that there are two different authconfigs.
There are no two different authconfigs, there are just two different ways how to run it. :) But OK, I can add something to the manual page.
Mentioned /usr/sbin/authconfig in the manpage.
authconfig-6.1.15-1.fc15 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 15. https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/authconfig-6.1.15-1.fc15
authconfig-6.1.15-1.fc15 has been pushed to the Fedora 15 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
IMO, this bug was not resolved in a sufficiently useful and intuitive manner. If I do "man authconfig", it has some section NOTES far down mentioning /usr/sbin/authconfig, while the user would expect to know about this when reading about --test. The man page currently says: "If --test action is specified, the authconfig just reads the current settings from the various configuration files and prints their values." I suggest changing this into: "If --test action is specified, authconfig just reads the current settings from the various configuration files and prints their values. This action can be run by users other than root. However, note that /usr/bin/authconfig uses consolehelper(8) to authenticate as the system user before it starts up. If you want to run it directly without the authentication as the system user, run /usr/sbin/authconfig instead." and removing the note from the NOTES section.