[SOLVED] Passwords settings do not work in XFCE

[Erik]

I just installed Mageia 6 XFCE on an old laptop and to my surprise I cannot change the password settings. I want these settings for software management:
Install/remove software: root password
Update software: no password
software sources: root password.

I made these changes, but this does not help. I MUST enter my user password! How do I make the changes?

Looking at all security settings I find "default" without any indication what the default is. Where can I find help with this?

Greetings,

Erik.

[morgano]

I can not repeat the problem: I logged into xfce, MCC > Security > Authentication, and change Update software: no password
http://doc.mageia.org/mcc/6/en/content/draksec.html

Then i enabled core updates testing repo, and in a while there is a popup asking to install updates, i click it, just for full test i selected FreeCAD only and let it update OK.
- All without asking for any password.

Looking at all security settings I find "default" without any indication what the default is. Where can I find help with this?

From that URL i gave:

Default: The launch mode depends on the chosen security level. See in the same MCC tab, the tool "Configure system security, permissions and audit".

[Erik]

Dear Morgano,

I went to the MCC and did as you said. It does not make a difference what options I choose. I always have to enter MCC by giving my user password. I have spent a lot of time reading polkit files but cannot find the one that overrules the set that I changed in MCC.

My idea is that it must be simple to change this behaviour by editing the polkit files, but I do not know which one. does anyone know which one?

Greetings,

Erik.

[Erik]

I found it!

Wandering on the internet I found out about a group called "wheel" and about "sudo" and "visudo". It turns out that in Mageia 6 XFCE the group 'wheel" exists and that I am the only member of it. I removed myself from this group and now XFCE obeys the polkit settings.

Greetings,

Erik Jan.

[morgano]

Ah, thanks for the update.
You mean you were in wheel group without having selected that??

Side note: Another way is to be in wheel group, have sudo configured and set up, and you (users in wheel group) will be asked for user password when root is needed, and other users must know root password to be able to use root functions. Ref: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Configuring_sudo

[Erik]

Dear Morgano,

You mean you were in wheel group without having selected that??

Yes, this is what I mean. Or perhaps I clicked something without knowing that I did.

All Ubuntu derivatives make the first user superuser who can do management tasks but is not root user. I dislike this intensely. This is why I after trying Ubuntu or Mint once in a while always return to Mageia/Rosa. I want to be free to manage my own system, even to be free to experiment and maybe even ruin the system. When I started looking at Mandrake in 2004, I did precisely this: experimenting and trying everything I could think of. When I ruined my system, I just reinstalled Mandrake and began again. On another partition with windows I did my normal work. This freedom I do not want limited now as all ubuntu derivatives do.

Greetings,

Erik Jan.