Package: general
Severity: important

Apparently, anything that needs root asks for the root password instead of my
user password. Apparently, it's using su instead of sudo. Just a moment ago, I
had to manually re-add myself to the sudo group. Now sudo works, but all
applications still ask for the root password instead of the user password.
Also, I get "You are not allowed to modify the system configuration."



-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.0.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash



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Package: general
Severity: important

Apparently, anything that needs root asks for the root password instead of my
user password. Apparently, it's using su instead of sudo. Just a moment ago, I
had to manually re-add myself to the sudo group. Now sudo works, but all
applications still ask for the root password instead of the user password.
Also, I get "You are not allowed to modify the system configuration."



-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.0.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash



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Jimmy Li wrote:
> Apparently, anything that needs root asks for the root password instead of my
> user password. Apparently, it's using su instead of sudo.

The debian-installer will set up your system to use either su or sudo
depending upon whether you specified a root password or only a user
password. If you set a root password then it will set it up for su.
If you only set a user password then it will set it up for sudo. What
you describe is normal when the installer has been given a root
password.

This selection is controlled by the alternatives system for the
'libgksu-gconf-defaults' command. You can change this selection by
updating it to use sudo instead of su.

Documentation for the gksu library is available here:

/usr/share/doc/libgksu2-0/README.Debian

Where it says:

The gksu library enables the user to run programs with root powers
using one of `su' or `sudo' as backend. If the application that uses
the library doesn't specify the backend it wants to use, the backend
will be selected through the `/apps/gksu/sudo-mode' boolean gconf
option.

To change the selection to something different:

# update-alternatives --config libgksu-gconf-defaults
# update-gconf-defaults

> Just a moment ago, I had to manually re-add myself to the sudo
> group. Now sudo works, but all applications still ask for the root
> password instead of the user password.

You did not say if the use of su and the root password was a change in
behavior or if it has always been using su since system installation
time. But if it is a change then perhaps something updated the
gconf-defaults on your system recently.

The sudo configuration setup is only for sudo. It doesn't affect the
libgksu-gconf-defaults configuration. If sudo is to be used then of
course sudo itself needs to be configured and working too. Again the
debian-installer does this automatically if only a user password is
given at install time.

Hope this helps,
Bob

Le mercredi 19 octobre 2011 Ã* 20:36 -0600, Bob Proulx a écrit :
> Jimmy Li wrote:
> > Apparently, anything that needs root asks for the root password instead of my
> > user password. Apparently, it's using su instead of sudo.
>
> The debian-installer will set up your system to use either su or sudo
> depending upon whether you specified a root password or only a user
> password.

This is not about su or sudo but about PolicyKit.

Theoretically, though, it should behave the same: if the user belongs to
the “sudo� group, it will behave like sudo. If she does not, it will
behave like su.

Therefore this is not a problem for newly installed systems, but on
systems upgraded from lenny, admin users are usually not members of the
sudo group.

The release notes talk about that and recommend use of the sudo group:
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#id442720

--
.'`. Josselin Mouette
: :' :
`. `'
`-




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