[KDE] KDE file manager problem

[tushar21nov]

I am using Kubuntu 16.04.1 and it is 64 bit. I am seeing this message when I click on Dolphin file manager to browse other folders and files. I am also unable to make any changes in Dolphin like icon size or options in the menu. This is happening when I log in as a normal user. After click on the OK button or the Close button I can browse Dolphin file manager and other folders and files. How to solve the problem. But I can do anything in root user mode when I use 'sudo dolphin' command in the terminal.

The Message:
Configuration file "/home/tushar/.config/dolphinrc" not writable. Please Contact your System Administrator.

[wizard10000]

The permissions on dolphinrc are incorrect. In a terminal window, do this -

sudo chown tushar:tushar /home/tushar/.config/dolphinrc

good luck!

[tushar21nov]

The permissions on dolphinrc are incorrect. In a terminal window, do this -

sudo chown tushar:tushar /home/tushar/.config/dolphinrc

good luck!

Thanks for the reply. Done!. is this default in kubuntu ?

[vinnywright]

FYI : this happened because you used "sudo" to get a root dolphin ,,,,you should use "kdesudo" to prevent this

VINNY

[Snowhog]

Thanks for the reply. Done!. is this default in kubuntu ?

See RootSudo

[Rod J]

I wish the developers would somehow make it at least difficult to run gui programs with sudo, like a warning message to use kdesudo/gksudo instead or even better to automatically switch to use kdesudo/gksudo as required. I guess it's not so simple to implement this as it would surely have been done by now.

This sudo + gui app thing is a trap for 'newbies' for sure. I must have done it myself when I first started using Linux years ago.

[kubicle]

I wish the developers would somehow make it at least difficult to run gui programs with sudo, like a warning message to use kdesudo/gksudo instead or even better to automatically switch to use kdesudo/gksudo as required. I guess it's not so simple to implement this as it would surely have been done by now.

It isn't. It would be extremely hard to find out whether a command will run a GUI app without actually running it, at which point it's too late for sudo to react (like print out a warning or switch to a graphical sudo wrapper).

---

Also, this sudo problem isn't universal. For example, in Debian sudo is compiled to not keep the $HOME environment by default when using sudo, and ubuntu changes this behavior with a patch (which is the root cause for this problem). There are a few reasons for this change in ubuntu, but IMO the benefits don't outweigh the problems the change causes.

---

However, you can also change the default behavior on ubuntu if you wish, with a few ways (after which you can use sudo with GUI apps):

1. Use a command line option that will change the $HOME environment variable to the target user (either -H or -i will work), for example "sudo -i kate" or "sudo -H dolphin"

2. For a permanent change add a new option to sudoers file (either always_set_home or env_keep-="HOME" should change the default behavior)...only do this if you know your way around modifying sudoers, read "man sudoers" or ask for more instructions if you don't.

---

Of course one can also just keep using kdesudo (or other graphical sudo/su wrappers) with GUI apps and use sudo only for CLI commands.

[Rod J]

Thanks Kubicle for your interesting explanation of the problem. I thought it wouldn't be so simple to fix it.

[Rog131]

Future?

Title should be: Future ?

nagging: Thread/post title contains prohibited characters! Must match [a-zA-Z0-9.,'-/ ]

Bug 152150 - Cannot 'Open as Root' files/directories : https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=152150

--> Bug 179678 - Dolphin needs PolicyKit-kde integration in KIO: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=179678

KDE File Manager devel mailing list - https://marc.info/?l=kfm-devel&m=148390138125694&w=2

Subject: Looking for co-mentors for a GSoC Dolphin/KIO project

...GSoC 2017 is near and it's time to discuss project ideas.
This year I want to tackle one of the biggest problems in Dolphin:
lack of polkit support. Dolphin users often don't know how to use the
command line, so when they have to move root-owned files around they
are forced to start Dolphin with root permissions, which is bad and
dangerous.

GSoC is a great opportunity and I'm confident we can find an awesome
student who will fix this. ...

[Rog131]

Soon

https://blog.martin-graesslin.com/bl...files-as-root/

Posted on 17. February 2017 by Martin Gräßlin

Editing files as root

...Today I pushed a change for Kate and KWrite which does no longer allow to be run as root. Instead it educates the user about how to do the same with sudoedit...

$ sudoedit --help    
sudoedit - edit files as another user

What's So Great About Sudoedit?: http://www.wingtiplabs.com/blog/post...3/13/sudoedit/

[vinnywright]

so I guess this will brake the "root actions service menu" that worked so well for editing root owned files

VINNY

[Rog131]

so I guess this will brake the "root actions service menu" that worked so well for editing root owned files

VINNY

Applications need constant love from the developers/maintainers...

 sudoedit --help
sudoedit - edit files as another user

usage: sudoedit [-AknS] [-C num] [-g group] [-h host] [-p prompt] [-u user] file ...

Options:
 -A, --askpass               use a helper program for password prompting
.
.
.

[GreyGeek]

As usual, ALL the real power is in the terminal!
(Which is good ... if you have a good memory! )

[kubicle]

so I guess this will brake the "root actions service menu" that worked so well for editing root owned files

Yes and no. The menu is not tied to kate. Kate is used by default, but if another editor is set as the default text editor, it will use it instead.

And as Rog mentioned, sudoedit can be used with kate, but it is trickier than it seems...and definitely not a drop-in replacement that can easily be integrated into the menu (problems that come to mind instantly are: 1. handling graphical password dialog [which askpass programs work and which the user has installed?] and 2. problems with running/existing kate sessions).

Don't get me wrong, getting policykit integration into KDE is a worthy goal, and I would be very happy if the root actions menu would be made redundant by it...but in my opinion there needs to be about 10 steps towards that goal before this particular step is taken.

It's superfluous at best (making one GUI editor refuse to run as root won't really affect security, as there are a load of other programs and even other GUI editors that will continue to do so), and developer cockiness at worst (this will certainly affect work flows in unforeseen ways and for very small gains...these kind of changes should not be done on a whim). I'm all for developer efforts to make the defaults as secure as possible (within reason), but not allowing the defaults to be changed is borderline vandalism.

I have the highest respect for M. Gräßlin, I just disagree with his decision here (but not his end goal).

[Rog131]

Domino effect


( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_effect )

KDE File Manager devel mailing list - https://marc.info/?l=kfm-devel&m=148754509714115&w=2#1

List: kfm-devel
Subject: Re: Looking for co-mentors for a GSoC Dolphin/KIO project
From: Elvis Angelaccio

.
.
.
Btw, Emmanuel pushed a commit [1] similar to the kate one, disabling
root in dolphin master...

[1]: https://cgit.kde.org/dolphin.git/com...7901e9b417cf89

https://cgit.kde.org/dolphin.git/com...7901e9b417cf89

Disallow executing Dolphin as root on Linux

Basically a copy of commit kate/9adcebd3c2e476c8a32e9b455cc99f46b0e12a7e which was written by Martin Grässlin...

+#ifndef Q_OS_WIN
+    // Check whether we are running as root
+    if (getuid() == 0) {
+        std::cout << "Executing Dolphin as root is not possible." << std::endl;
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;