[Bug 982032] Re: package-data-downloader user.d hook relies on gksudo, not present on Kubuntu

[Steve Langasek]

** Changed in: update-notifier (Ubuntu Precise)
       Status: Triaged => In Progress

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Title:
  package-data-downloader user.d hook relies on gksudo, not present on
  Kubuntu

Status in “update-notifier” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “update-notifier” source package in Precise:
  In Progress
Status in “update-notifier” source package in Quantal:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]
  Use of gksudo in the update-notifier hook means that the "Run this action" command fails on a Kubuntu system; so any time a data download fails, Kubuntu users are presented with a message about it but given nothing that helps them fix the problem.

  [Test Case]
  1. On Kubuntu, run sudo cp /usr/share/update-notifier/package-data-downloads-failed /var/lib/update-notifier/user.d/
  2. On the resulting dialog, click on 'Run this action'
  3. Verify that the action gives an error about gksudo
  4. Upgrade to the update-notifier-common package in precise-proposed
  5. Repeat steps 1 and 2
  6. Confirm that you are prompted for a password and that the command runs without error.
  7. On a separate Ubuntu install, install the update-notifier-common package from precise-proposed
  8. Repeat steps 5 and 6

  [Regression potential]
  The package uploaded to precise-proposed does not add a dependency on policykit-1 (since it did not have one on gksudo).  So if gksudo was installed on the user's system, but policykit-1 is not, this will cause the command to fail where before it succeeded.  It's possible this should be addressed by adding a dependency.
  The pkexec command could also fail where gksudo did not.  I can't think of any reason why this would be.

  The package-data-downloader update-notifier hook has an action that
  requires root privileges.  In the interest in expedience, this button
  uses gksudo in precise; but gksudo is not included in Kubuntu.

  This needs to be fixed to either use policykit + a dbus service (which
  may be too heavyweight for this despite being the preferred security
  model?), or to use use something like ubiquity's "get root any way I
  can" wrapper.

  Neither of these fixes is going to make it for precise .0, however.
  This is inconvenient, but the dialog is only presented in case of a
  download failure anyway.

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