"su"-Required entry

C. Gatzemeier c.gatzemeier at tu-bs.de
Tue Sep 13 03:07:41 EEST 2005


Am Monday 29 August 2005 02:34 schrieb Manu Cornet:

> The new key is RootRequired=yes|no|optional.

A su-required key and a uid key (defaulting to root) may yield more benefits.

Since the issue seemed to come from improving ubuntu/gnome user experience, 
consider the following.

The possibily of a system automatically booting into a guest account. For 
example a family account. The account could have icons to start apps (i.e. 
mail, accountig etc.) under differnt uids, or ask for selection and give the 
oportunity to add/manage upon starting a su-required app.

No need to log out and in again, or to open new sessions. Data stays separate 
on disk and memory. However even copy and paste between the apps running 
under different uids could work.

Another part of the rationale is that if the uid management of the system is 
supported on the desktop level apps can rely, or simply and easily be used, 
with proven system security and desktop functionality instead of having to 
implement sub-user management in user space on their own.

Besides the su-required .deskop file key, for what kde keys exist, gnome might 
too only need small changes to fully support the above scenarios:

support right-click "start as..." different user for icons and menues
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=81208

kdesu window should offer option (button) to start user management
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=81210

prompt for password instead of failing if filepermissions are not sufficient
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=81209

Regards,
Christian




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