time-admin error: "Could not authenticate"

[NoOp]

On 08/04/2008 11:06 PM, Colin Brace wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I recently installed 8.04 on a new laptop in a different time zone; now that
> I am home, I need to change the TZ, but time-admin won't "unlock"; after
> about twenty seconds it displays a dialog box saying: "Could not
> authenticate". 
> 
> It looks like this bug was reported and fixed:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk+2.0/+bug/183804

Note that 183804 does not address the unlock issue & instead refers to
183673. And even that bug only touches the surface; there are many
different bugs reported that seem to intertwine on this issue in Hardy.
Example:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gksu/+bug/55172
[gksu dies on first run]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/sudo/+bug/231565
[[hardy] update-manager freezes after clicking on install updates]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/policykit/+bug/210897
[sudo *something which uses poliykit?* doesn't work]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gksu/+bug/234402
[update manager doesn't work in Hardy]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gksu/+bug/187982
[ update-manager fails to bring up the password prompt for root privileges]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gksu/+bug/91151
[gksu doesn't always pop up a dialog]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xubuntu-meta/+bug/194496
[ [users-admin] Unlock -> "Could not authenticate. An unexpected error
has occurred."]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/sudo
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gksu

> 
> In the meantime, are there any workarounds? For some reason running
> time-admin from gksudo doesn't work either.
> 

The first (and easiest) is to check your /etc/hosts file to make sure
that it is set like this:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 <machinename>

Or, if you use Samba and have a workgroup share name (workgroup, mshome,
etc) you can use:

127.0.0.1 localhost <machinename>.<workgroupnameifyouhaveone>
127.0.1.1 <machinename>

For some reason if user-admin cannot find the localhost it craps. And,
given that your's takes about 20 sec to come back with the "Could not
authenticate", there's a good chance that it spent those 20 seconds out
trying to find localhost.