[SOLVED] su-to-root not working

[powerhouse]

I've been using luckybackup for the past few years. When it installs, it creates the following launcher entry to start as superuser:

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su-to-root -X -c /usr/bin/luckybackup

This has worked fine until Linux Mint 18.3. Now with Linux Mint 19 it doesn't work, nor does any other option work .

I tried pkexec, sudo -i, gksudo, you name it.

What has changed and how do I run this application in a root environment (user=root, home=root), like sudo -i.

It's a graphical application.

P.S.: Running

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sudo -i luckybackup

in a terminal window works.

[JeremyB]

Starting in 18.3 for fresh installs no password was set for the root account basically disabling the use of su

[altair4]

According to the Ubuntu man page for "su-to-root": http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bio ... oot.1.html

ENVIRONMENT

SU_TO_ROOT_X
Select the su-like program called by su-to-root -X. Supported values are gksu,
kdesu, kde4su, ktsuss,
sux, gksudo and kdesudo. kde4su denotes the KDE4 version of kdesu.

When this variable is not set su-to-root will currently try to use gksu, kdesu,
kde4su, ktsuss, sux and the built-in code, in that order with the exception that
under a KDE session, kdesu and kde4su are prefered over gksu.

There is no gksu, gksudo, whatever the hell ktsuss was, ...

You need to make your own polkit rule: Luckybackup super-user not available after install via Software Manager

EDIT: I deviated from that link at the end and after createing the polkit file I edited /usr/share/applications/luckybackup-gnome-su.desktop and changed this line:

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Exec=su-to-root -X -c /usr/bin/luckybackup

To this:

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Exec=pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

Now the existing menu Item will run as root.

[Flemur]

As far as I can tell, this acts like "gksudo" except you get a terminal instead of a text box to enter the password, so you can use it in menus and such.

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$ cat ~/bin/Gksudo
#!/bin/sh
#
# Use this when gksu goes away.
#
xfce4-terminal --command="sudo -H -i -u root bash -c '$*' &" --geometry=45x10 

Usage:

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Gksudo command

FWIW, when I updated 18.3 to 19, gksudo and everything else continued to work, but pkexec has never worked anywhere. (I went back to 18.3 until the upgrade path is fixed).

[powerhouse]

Thanks for all the replies. I won't be back at my Linux PC for a couple of days, but will give the suggestions a try. pkexec on the command line didn't work. Perhaps the polkit change will do the job.

The fact that Luckybackup doesn't install the super-user launcher anymore is a bug! It should be fixed.

Changing command syntax with every Linux Mint / Ubuntu release is a bad habit. Instead of improving on gksu/gksudo, why the hell did they have to reinvent the wheel? If car manufacturers would do the same, we would have to relearn driving with every new model that comes out. Yet the steering wheel is in the same place as decades ago, so are brakes, accelerator, the winker and lights switches.

It's ridiculous that I have to post this stupid question on how to do the most basic thing in Linux Mint - how to run a GUI command as super-user - just because of a model upgrade. Imagine you got your new car and need to post on the forum to be able to drive it?

Again thanks to the forum users and admins who helped out here so quickly! But the command line syntax of basic commands SHOULD NOT CHANGE.

[powerhouse]

According to the Ubuntu man page for "su-to-root": http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bio ... oot.1.html

ENVIRONMENT

SU_TO_ROOT_X
Select the su-like program called by su-to-root -X. Supported values are gksu,
kdesu, kde4su, ktsuss,
sux, gksudo and kdesudo. kde4su denotes the KDE4 version of kdesu.

When this variable is not set su-to-root will currently try to use gksu, kdesu,
kde4su, ktsuss, sux and the built-in code, in that order with the exception that
under a KDE session, kdesu and kde4su are prefered over gksu.

There is no gksu, gksudo, whatever the hell ktsuss was, ...

You need to make your own polkit rule: Luckybackup super-user not available after install via Software Manager

EDIT: I deviated from that link at the end and after createing the polkit file I edited /usr/share/applications/luckybackup-gnome-su.desktop and changed this line:

Code: Select all

Exec=su-to-root -X -c /usr/bin/luckybackup

To this:

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Exec=pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

Now the existing menu Item will run as root.

Thanks, altair4 !

However, I need to correct this: The original solution you linked to is correct:

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pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

Running

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Exec=pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

will not ask for a password, and will not change to the /root environment. It will use the LuckyBackup proviles from the user /home/user/.luckyBackup folder. However, all my proviles using root privileges are saved in /root/.luckyBackup.

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pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

produces the expected result.

Without your post I would be still looking for the needle in the haystack.

[altair4]

I think we are talking about two different launchers. I actually did this before I made that post so just to make sure we are on the same page:

The original Marziano solution was to:

[Step1] Create the /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/luckybackup.policy file
[Step2] Then to verify that it worked run:

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pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

[Step3] Then create a launcher with that same expression: pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

What I did was follow Step1 and Step2 then to make it so the original Menu item worked I edited it's launcher by editing: /usr/share/applications/luckybackup-gnome-su.desktop

When you look at the file it was originally set to Exec=su-to-root -X -c /usr/bin/luckybackup
Setting it to pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup without the Exec= part will make it so the luckyBackup ( super user ) entry in the menu disappear and the .desktop file will not run..

Run the following command to verify for yourself:

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cat /usr/share/applications/luckybackup-gnome-su.desktop

[powerhouse]

I think we are talking about two different launchers. I actually did this before I made that post so just to make sure we are on the same page:

The original Marziano solution was to:

[Step1] Create the /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/luckybackup.policy file
[Step2] Then to verify that it worked run:

Code: Select all

pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

[Step3] Then create a launcher with that same expression: pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup

What I did was follow Step1 and Step2 then to make it so the original Menu item worked I edited it's launcher by editing: /usr/share/applications/luckybackup-gnome-su.desktop

When you look at the file it was originally set to Exec=su-to-root -X -c /usr/bin/luckybackup
Setting it to pkexec /usr/bin/luckybackup without the Exec= part will make it so the luckyBackup ( super user ) entry in the menu dissapear.

Run the following command to verify for yourself:

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cat /usr/share/applications/luckybackup-gnome-su.desktop

Oooops, you are right! I changed the launcher in the Mate menu, not

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cat /usr/share/applications/luckybackup-gnome-su.desktop

.