Description of problem: When "Show all problems" is enabled in ABRT GUI PolicyKit (?) keeps asking for password every five minutes. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): abrt-2.0.10-1.fc17 Expected results: Asks once.
This seems to me more like a problem (or feature??) in policykit. In abrt policy we have: <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active> - which should mean that policykit doesn't drop the authentication
This is not a polkit problem - it's abrt using the polkit APIs incorrectly. See http://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/polkit-apps.html for best practices. Reassigning back.
(In reply to comment #2) > This is not a polkit problem - it's abrt using the polkit APIs incorrectly. > See > > http://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/polkit-apps.html > > for best practices. Reassigning back. Thank you for your advice. I bet, that the following citation means that we have to keep an authorization on our side. Am I right? "auth_admin_keep - Like auth_admin but the authorization is kept for a brief period (e.g. five minutes)." [http://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/polkit.8.html] Because there is no way how to extend the brief period. As we can is in the following citation. "/* TODO: right now the time the temporary authorization is kept is hard-coded - we * could make it a propery on the PolkitBackendInteractiveAuthority class (so * the local authority could read it from a config file) or a vfunc * (so the local authority could read it from an annotation on the action). */ expiration_seconds = 5 * 60;" [http://cgit.freedesktop.org/polkit/tree/src/polkitbackend/polkitbackendinteractiveauthority.c#n3100]
I don't know how your program works but it sounds like you are calling CheckAuthorization() with the flag ALLOW_USER_INTERACTION even when not in response to user action (e.g. user action = user pressing a button or similar). The docs says not to do this, see http://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/eggdbus-interface-org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Authority.html#eggdbus-method-org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Authority.CheckAuthorization precisely to avoid problems like this. I guess you do this because your setup is that your GUI calls a method on your daemon from time to time and the daemon implementation calls polkit's CheckAuthorization() method. Right? I would propose a different architecture, for example - your daemon automatically does its thing on a regular schedule (without checking for authorization). The GUI then piggy-backs on this info and no authorization is needed - you could have the GUI establish a "session" with your daemon and this session "remembers" the authorization ... I guess that's what you meant with "I bet, that the following citation means that we have to keep an authorization on our side." - consider if you need to check with polkit at all - maybe the operation isn't privileged at all Remember the best GUI is a GUI that doesn't interrupt the user with unneeded password dialogs (sometimes that isn't possible, of course, but sometimes it is).
(In reply to comment #4) > I don't know how your program works but it sounds like you are calling > CheckAuthorization() with the flag ALLOW_USER_INTERACTION even when not in > response to user action (e.g. user action = user pressing a button or > similar). The docs says not to do this, see > - it's actually called on user action > http://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/docs/latest/eggdbus-interface- > org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Authority.html#eggdbus-method-org.freedesktop. > PolicyKit1.Authority.CheckAuthorization > > precisely to avoid problems like this. > > I guess you do this because your setup is that your GUI calls a method on > your daemon from time to time and the daemon implementation calls polkit's > CheckAuthorization() method. Right? - not from time to time, but when user cliks on a specific button > > I would propose a different architecture, for example > > - your daemon automatically does its thing on a regular schedule (without > checking for authorization). The GUI then piggy-backs on this info > and no authorization is needed > > - you could have the GUI establish a "session" with your daemon and this > session "remembers" the authorization ... I guess that's what you meant > with "I bet, that the following citation means that we have to keep an > authorization on our side." - think this is something that many programs could use, so I would expect it in polkit so we have one proper implementation of such "session" > > - consider if you need to check with polkit at all - maybe the operation > isn't privileged at all > - unfortunatelly we need it, there is a button in the GUI which is supposed to show data from various crashes from all users which I believe should require root password > Remember the best GUI is a GUI that doesn't interrupt the user with unneeded > password dialogs (sometimes that isn't possible, of course, but sometimes it > is).
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