KDE under VNC and drakconf

[leif]

I want to access my computer remotely and I run a KDE session under vncserver. This has worked fairly well before but under Mageia 4 I have encountered a new problem. I can no longer open drakconf from the menu or command line (as user). I have the same problem regardless if I start the VNC session as a service or if I start it from the command line. If I start a KDE session directly on the computer then drakconf can be started normally. This problem only shows up under VNC.

It should probably be considered as a bug. I have a feeling that this is related to polkit but I have not figured out how to solve it.

[doktor5000]

Does it work via simple X forwarding?

[leif]

No, it does not work with X forwarding under Mageia 4. However, it does work correctly under Mageia 3.

[doktor5000]

Hmmm, just saw a totally similar comment on a bugreport yesterday.

Does it work via VNC or X forwarding, when you directly run the binary as root?

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/usr/libexec/drakxconf

[leif]

Well, /usr/libexec/drakxconf only gives a text interface, but it can be started both as a normal user and as root. If you mean /usr/libexec/drakconf, then it can be started as root but opens an error report pop-up window, if it is started by a normal user.

[doktor5000]

If you mean /usr/libexec/drakconf, then it can be started as root but opens an error report pop-up window, if it is started by a normal user.

So it does work as expected when run as root? Then it seems to be caused by the polkit layer in between.

[leif]

Is there any way to configure it manually? Is there any workaround?

[viking60]

There is the exact same problem when trying to run drakconf from any menu in Openbox.
There is no pasword propmt and nothing fires.
As root in a terminal it fires.
The menu entry in openbox is /usr/bin/drakconf (generated xdg-menu).

I would be interested in a workaround too.

Is this bug reported?

[doktor5000]

Sounds different to me. Do you have a polkit agent running?

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ps -ef | grep polkit

shows what?

[viking60]

Sounds identical to me, but here we go:

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[viking@localhost ~]$ ps -ef | grep polkit
polkitd    824     1  0 12:55 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
thomas   19371 19338  0 19:41 pts/0    00:00:00 grep --color polkit


I try to stop it with

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systemctl stop polkit

and see if it helps...
This is a vanilla Mageia 4 install
Edit:
Stopping and Disabling the polkit had no effect.

[doktor5000]

That's the polkit system daemon that you just stopped. No polkit agent running. Choose one of those, doesn't matter which. Probably the mate one has least dependencies on other stuff.

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$ urpmq --whatprovides polkit-agent
polkit-kde-agent-1|gnome-shell|cinnamon|mate-polkit

No authentication agent, no query for password when not run as root directly. This is mine:

[doktor5000@Mageia3 ~]$ ps -ef | grep polkit
500 4490 4390 0 20:15 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color polkit
500 5325 1 0 Feb08 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib64/kde4/libexec/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1
polkitd 30835 1 0 Feb07 ? 00:00:09 /usr/lib/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug

[viking60]

Installing mate-polkit fixed it!
At least it fires from the "welcome".

Do you know why this has changed since Mageie 3?

[doktor5000]

Do you know why this has changed since Mageie 3?

Yes.

[doktor5000]

To be fair: You should read the release notes: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_4_Rel ... entication
This is probably one of the major changes for Mageia 4.

[viking60]

Aha OK (I guess I deserved that one ).
I only need to stay updated because I installed it for an old Lady in Germany. I use Arch and Manjaro myself.
Obviously this was only tested with KDE.
Openbox and E17 are rather less user friendly in Mageia 4 than in say; Mageia 3, Openmandriva, Arch and Manjaro +++
They all have openbox-menu in the repos too (exept Mageia 3).
It does look rather stupid when that nice auto-poping welcome does not let you fire all that help.

[doktor5000]

It was not only tested for KDE, but for all those desktops whose maintainers actively participated. Meaning GNOME, KDE, MATE and also Cinnamon AFAIR.
And if people don't participate during the development and mention outstanding bugs, the chance is really low that those will be automagically fixed ...

Don't understand your comment about the welcome app, what help should be able to fired from there?

[leif]

Well, all this is interesting, but it has not helped me. I uninstalled mate-polkit, but it did not help. There are still problems with drakconf via X forwarding and under KDE via VNC.

[doktor5000]

Sorry, I've not merged this *different* issue in here. You should maybe google around how this polkit stuff should work together with X forwarding and maybe also VNC.
As I don't use that at home, cannot help you with that really :/

But I can tell you that this forums thread is on first result page for "polkit x11 forwarding" seems like a pretty rare topic.
But seems somebody else already encountered similar stuff:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/797960
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions ... eck-does-p

Seems you need to adjust the polkit policy to your needs ... or just configure sudo for the commands that you need

[viking60]

Don't understand your comment about the welcome app, what help should be able to fired from there?

Drakconf/MCC

[doktor5000]

Sorry, totally can't comprehend what your problem is with that. It offers an overview over drakconf,
it's functionalities and a link to launch it. More than before and totally enough to get you started.

Others complained that it's already overloaded. Anyways, you did add that suggestion during development here: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Suggestions_ ... eiaWelcome ?

Apart from that, that's even more offtopic here.

[viking60]

It is on your comprehension then.
"Welcome" should be able to fire MCC by design and it can't (in OB). If you cannot comprehend the problem with that then the comprehension capacity is faulty.

(It is hardly a feature that we have to install mate-polkit to make it work as intended - without it; the link to launch MCC in welcome is dead).

I have made suggestions in Bugzilla to improve OB in Mageia (closed as wontfix - and it is off topic). And I have written the working Wiki so I don't need the joining speeches.

In fact all of this commotion was because I was testing the darned thing and made it work. Sorry if it did not fit into the forms of the bureaucracy.
I don't give a damn about the welcome (I was testing Openbox) - I just pointed out that parts of it does not work in Mageia 4 (in OB) without a workarround (aka a bug - that now is confirmed here).
The important part was that the admin password prompt did not fire for GUI's that needed it - as it does in KDE.

and.. Your welcome!

[leif]

But I can tell you that this forums thread is on first result page for "polkit x11 forwarding" seems like a pretty rare topic.
But seems somebody else already encountered similar stuff:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/797960
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions ... eck-does-p

Seems you need to adjust the polkit policy to your needs ... or just configure sudo for the commands that you need

Well, the issues described in these links are probably related to what I see, but they are not exactly the same. The links describes issues in Ubuntu and I am not sure how to translate the fixes to Mageia, since the file structure is different.

In any way, polkit was present also in Mageia 3, but did not cause any problems. A number of new rules related to drakconf have been added in Mageia 4. If I remove these, would I get the same behaviour as in Mageia 3?

[doktor5000]

In any way, polkit was present also in Mageia 3, but did not cause any problems. A number of new rules related to drakconf have been added in Mageia 4. If I remove these, would I get the same behaviour as in Mageia 3?

No, as all draktools have been migrated to polkit with Mageia 4: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_4_Rel ... entication

Although you could change all of the draktools to not require your root password, or setup sudo rules for them, or ...
See e.g. https://doc.mageia.org/mcc/4/en/content/draksec.html (even if it looks a bit different under Mageia 4)

[doktor5000]

It is on your comprehension then.
"Welcome" should be able to fire MCC by design and it can't (in OB). If you cannot comprehend the problem with that then the comprehension capacity is faulty.

(It is hardly a feature that we have to install mate-polkit to make it work as intended - without it; the link to launch MCC in welcome is dead).

Feel free to test and report that next time during development cycle. If nobody reports this as not working, nobody can fix it.
You can complain as much as you want for having to add one package ... that doesn't help anybody, nor does it belong in this thread.

[viking60]

Oh shoot! I missed the development cycle (Bayern Munich must have played that day)

If I remove these, would I get the same behaviour as in Mageia 3?

In terms of Openbox that would be a good thing.