From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 12 16:50:09 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A86FF806 for ; Sun, 12 Apr 2015 16:50:09 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 62A1B9B1 for ; Sun, 12 Apr 2015 16:50:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-6-207.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.6.207]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2F1243CC98; Sun, 12 Apr 2015 18:49:59 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id t3CGnwrE001960; Sun, 12 Apr 2015 18:49:58 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2015 18:49:58 +0200 From: Polytropon To: Mike Clarke Subject: Re: Use "kdesu" in KDE Message-Id: <20150412184958.c679d3e1.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4358779.WdKTPnpt2K@curlew.lan> References: <20150411190312.GA2366@c720-r276659> <20150411211412.c8e802ba.freebsd@edvax.de> <4358779.WdKTPnpt2K@curlew.lan> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: arnab bhowmick , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2015 16:50:09 -0000 On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 21:55:16 +0100, Mike Clarke wrote: > On Saturday 11 Apr 2015 21:14:12 Polytropon wrote: > > On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 21:03:12 +0200, Matthias Apitz wrote: > > > Hmmm: > > > > > > > > > $ kdesu date > > > sh: kdesu: not found > > > > Thanks for verifying! Interesting that it's not part of > > KDE anymore... > > It's still there - /usr/local/lib/kde4/libexec/kdesu > > curlew:/home/mike% pkg which /usr/local/lib/kde4/libexec/kdesu > /usr/local/lib/kde4/libexec/kdesu was installed by package kde-runtime-4.14.3 > > I think it's in libexec because it's not normally expected to be invoked from > the command line but is utilised by the menu editor and ALT+F2 when you tick > the box to run a program as a different user. That's the exact description. You're right - in normal use cases, you don't invoke kdesu manually. That's why its presence in libexec is not a surprise. And you probably provided the answer the OP didn't directly ask for: Alt+PF2 opens the "Run..." dialog, and _that_ dialog can be used to launch a Terminal for root. Similarly, the KDE file manager has some kdesu integration for "browse as root" or "perform deleting action as root". > > > But, who needs 'kdesu' is you have a terminal, xterm, ... and 'su' > > Kdesu enables you to open new windows as root without needing to mess with > xhost or .Xauthority. Useful for running things like wireshark. Exactly, that's what I thought about. Similarly, a terminal can be opened that way - if you want to perform command line actions (such as for updating the system, installing packages or other things that require root access). Still there is the convenient (and IDE-independent) way of using "su -m" in a terminal, and then starting programs, even GUI programs, without having to deal with "lower level X permissions". :-) However, it's _still_ required that the user who should be able to do those "high power tasks" has to be added to the correct group, "wheel", as explained. From that point on, he has the choice about what way to become root is the preferred one. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...