Re: Gnome SuperUser

[Sriram Ramkrishna <sri aracnet com>]

This is where I wish we had really nice ACL support in Unix.  
AFS (http://www.openafs.org) for instance would be a nice where you
don't have to be root to copy files over you could just get a token
that would allow such a thing.  I'm still waiting for *ix/*bsd to
enter the 21st century and get us out of "rwxrwxrwx" world.

Ah well..

sri

On Fri, Jan 10, 2003 at 11:20:43AM -0500, Dan Mann wrote:
> I tell you what I would like, is the ability to run a nautilus window as
> root so I can move files back and forth from protected areas like my
> wife's home directory and my home directory without having to open a
> terminal, su, than do the copy.  It's really nice when moving things
> like wallpaper that my wife might like when you have thumbnails to see
> what you are moving.  I even put certain semi important files in a
> separate directory from my normal files, and then remove all access so
> that I don't ever accidentally delete them.  If I do this as root, then
> I have to go back in with a terminal and change permissions.  And I like
> the way nautilus handles permissions with a click (I never remember the
> commands and I always end up doing chmod --help (oh listen to me cry,
> why when my pappy used to change file permissions he had to do it on a
> system that's cpu usage was spiked at 100% and was running with 4k, and
> he had to use a hex editor manually on the disk.  I've got it so easy).
> 
> Anyway, I guess my point is that I find these types of situations happen
> fairly frequently, and being able to do these things from the gui would
> be nice for me anyhow.
> 
> I can't live on windows anymore without the runas command.  Heck, even
> my dad now has a separate "supervisor" account that can install
> programs.  That way if something does get run accidentally when he is
> logged in as a regular user, system files don't go by by.
> 
> My .02,
> 
> PS - I like the gtk sidebar in redhat phoebe, it looks nice.
> 
> dan
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: desktop-devel-list-admin gnome org 
> > [mailto:desktop-devel-list-admin gnome org] On Behalf Of 
> > Bastien Nocera
> > Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 10:38 AM
> > To: MArk Finlay
> > Cc: desktop-devel-list gnome org
> > Subject: Re: Gnome SuperUser
> > 
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > We already talked about that when I ported gnome-sudo to 2.0 and we
> > pretty much agreed that it was a better idea to depend on pam and
> > consolehelper rather than on "su-like" programs.
> > 
> > Read this thread:
> > http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2002-August/
> > msg00256.html
> > 
> > On Fri, 2003-01-10 at 15:22, MArk Finlay wrote:
> > > There has been some disussion in the past about having a 
> > kdesu[1] style
> > > program for Gnome. Every now and then someone comes along 
> > and says that
> > > they are going to program one. There has been gnomesu, gsu, 
> > gtksu, xsu
> > > and an attempted port of kdesu to gnome[2].
> > > 
> > > None of the above projects are being actively maintained and some of
> > > them cannot even be found online anymore. I know that a lot of users
> > > want a (gooey)way to run programs as root easily and I had 
> > some time to
> > 
> > If you want gooey ways, try to pour a jam jar on your keyboard, or a
> > bottle of Coke... Worked for me.
> > 
> > > spare so I started looking around for some code to use.
> > > 
> > > A week and a half later i bring you Gnome SuperUser: 
> > http://xsu.sf.net
> > > As the url implies it is based on xsu and at the moment I 
> > am using xsu's
> > > cvs and sf resources for it's development(thanks to xsu's 
> > author: Philip
> > > Van Hoof). I found xsu to be unintuitive and excessively 
> > complicated for
> > > what it does so i have simplified it and improved the ui. 
> > You can find
> > > instructions for checking out the code from sf cvs, and a 
> > screenshot on
> > > the site.
> > > 
> > > I know that there are a lot of problems with running gtk 
> > apps as root
> > > and that it may never be possible to include this sort of 
> > program in the
> > > core gnome desktop, but I'd like to think that it has a 
> > home somewhere
> > > in the Gnome Software collection, maybe in the fifth toe or hackers'
> > > toys?
> > > 
> > > Anyway, my plans for this tool are to finish off it's UI 
> > and behavior
> > > and to try and make it as secure as is possible. I'd love if I could
> > > continue to hack on it using gnome cvs and bugzilla where it could
> > > receive scrutiny from better hackers than myself, and maybe 
> > some i18n
> > > love etc..
> > > 
> > > Also I would like to hear from people on this list the 
> > resons why a gsu
> > > program is not wanted in the gnome desktop so that maybe I 
> > can do some
> > > research and see if the situation can be improved.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > [1]In case you've never used it it is a little kde program 
> > that you run
> > > with the syntax 'kdesu <command>'. It then asks you your 
> > root password
> > > ans runs the command as root.
> > > [2]There is also some code in the gnome-system-tools but 
> > currently this
> > > is only used to run those tools as root.
> > 
> > Cheers
> > 
> > -- 
> > /Bastien Nocera
> > http://hadess.net
> > 
> > #2  0x4205a2cc in printf ("Oh my %s\n", preferred_deity) from
> > /lib/i686/libc.so.6 printf ("Oh my %s\n", preferred_deity);
> > Segmentation fault
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > desktop-devel-list mailing list
> > desktop-devel-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list
> > 
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