4 blocked updates

[Willy K. Hamra]

Donn wrote:
> On Friday, 05 June 2009 20:52:37 Muzer wrote:
>> Because sudo doesn't change the home directory to the /root directory
>> (when kdesudo does), 
> I think you mean that kdesudo does not change things to root ownership. But 
> then I am not sure why you think this. I could be wrong, but the whole point 
> of *any* sudo is to become (some kind of) root. After that, whatever files are 
> made are made as root. So, kdesudo would have the same effect for that.
> 
> Nearest I can tell kdesudo does some fancy footwork with display vars in order 
> to get access to X so that graphical apps can run as root. I am very fuzzy 
> about the details. Make that 100% ignorant :)
> 
>>> Which examples of command-line bins would you use kdesudo to run?
>> Well, anything that needs a config file in ~. Things like midnight ...
> I think I see what's going-on here. Some people would rather run Dolphin or 
> Konqueror under kdesudo in order to find and edit some config file (or change 
> some file permission) that is not owned by their normal user account. So, yes 
> kdesudo would be useful to them.
> 
> \d
here's the story:
in the past, i mean past past, sudo worked similarly to su, that is
start a program with root permissions, and using the complete root
environment, discarding the whole user environment,just as if you type
su, logged in as root, and issued the commnd. this worked on cli
programs, basically any program that doesn't require user environment.
the most important part of that environment was some settings in home.
in ubuntu distros, root is diabled, and its environment is minimal, amny
programs need more info about the computer which wasn't available in the
root environment, and thus failed, the most prominent of these programs
are the gui programs, these need to connect to an X server.an X server
that is running as a normal user, and it's .xsession's file is in the
user's home. thus kdesudo (previusly kdesu) was created to solve this
issue. it uses sudo (previously su) and set it to keep some user
environment variables required for correct functioning of gui programs.
nowadays, sudo also preserves these environment variables. but the
difference is that sudo preserves more variables than kdesudo. kdesudo
preserves only the needed ones, and wipes off the rest or replaces with
root specific ones. the most notable example, and fastest test is
checking how they both handle the HOME variable.
go to konsole and type "sudo konqueror", once it loads, in address bar
type ~ followed by enter,you'll notice you will see your own home.
konqueror as root is still using your home as its own.
now type kdesudo konqueror, and again load ~
you'll notice you're in /root  :)
hope this makes it clear for everyone, and specially those still
confusing old sudo with new sudo, and the various different methods
employed across the years,and hope my explanation is accurate and
correct,if anything is wrong, please correct me:)

-- 
Willy K. Hamra
Manager of Hamra Information Systems
Co. Manager of Zeina Computer & Billy Net

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