Hi guys at the forum. I'm a newbie of mandrake 10 and I also use KDE 3.2 desktop in my system, I love it. I have a little question and I hope you guys can help me. I found this address in the internet;
In that page there is some information about how to create a " File manager super user" icon for your KDE menu. With this icon you will be able to invoque a file manager utility (ex. konqueror) with all the root priviledges. Doing this allows you to manipulate files in all possible ways. But there is a problem when you locate the file you want to edit. Is there any way you can "double click" the file and open it in "Kwrite" with root priviledges so you can edit the file. Because right now if you click the file it give you an error. I enjoy very much the GUI of KDE and that's why I want to customize it as much as possible. Thank you all.

Javi

You already have a very nice tool, installed with mandrake, which can be set to run in SU mode. It is Nautilus.

Right click in the desktop, Create, New File, Link to Application. Click on the third tab, 'application', and type

/usr/bin/nautilus in the command window.

now click on 'advanced options', and check the box labeled 'run as different user', and use 'root'.

you now have a superuser file utility.

You can do this with any file app, not just nautilus! (Please don't flame me because *I* like it Linux is about choice.

Hi edcutis, thanks for your reply. I went to the path you give me ( /usr/bin/nautilus ) and there is nothing with the name nautilus in my system. I did a google of nautilus and it says that is a core component of GNOME desktop project. I don't have GNOME install in my system. I only have KDE desktop. That's another question I have because mandrake 10 has both desktops as part of the bundle of applications but when I did the installation at first I left GNOME out of the applications I wanted in my system. In one moment i decide to install the GNOME desktop using the Mandrake Control Center but I couldn't do it, it kept giving me errors, so I give up after several try. Can you use that nautilus application undeer KDE desktop.

Javi

Did you follow the instructions from the site and create a 'super user file manager' entry in your menu? When you navigate and then double-click on a file, are you doing this as root or as user? Sorry, I have to ask, because if you have indeed opened up konqueror as root, then you should be able to edit anything.

What error are you getting? If it's: "The document could not be saved, as it was not possible to write to file:/x/x Check that you have write access to this file or that enough disc space is available.", then most likely you are still in user mode and do not have root access.

You can always open up a terminal (konsole) and su to root and type in kwrite the_file_name and kwrite will pop up with root privilleges. Edit and save.

if you want a desktop icon for Konq in superuser mode, do the following..........

(please note, i'm going from memory here, so you may have to modify some of this, but it's easy enough to figure out)

right click the KDE desktop, choose "create new"->"icon"->"application" (or something very similar to that) name it whatever you like, in the executable tab use the following as the command....... kdesu konqueror ............. then choose an icon of your own desire, "apply", "ok". now, when you click on it, a password dialogue box will open up asking for the root password. enter it & Kong file manager will open in superuser (IE: root) mode & you will be able to manipulate any file you desire.

conversely, if you don't want to clutter your desktop with an extra icon, you can accomplish the same thing in terminal (or Konsole). as normal user at the prompt type kdesu konqueror (hit enter) & the password box will pop up, then open Konq in superuser mode. or, in terminal su to root & just type konqueror & that will open Konq in superuser mode without asking for a password.

also, you can add a shortcut (if you like) somewhere in your Kicker menu using the same command for the executable. right click kicker "K" (or the star), choose menu editor, click the "add" button, fill in the blanks as you did for the desktop icon, click "save" when done.

nothing against Nautilus, but since you're using KDE you might as well use the KDE file manager. it's up to you.

otis

Thanks OTISH, I endeed follow the instructions to the "T". I create a shortcut in my Kicker menu that when I click it the "Run as root "window pops up. Then I type my root password and Konqueror open The GUI. I can do everything in there now but when I click a file (ex. lilo.conf), A windows appear with an error That says;
I'm quoting this from your comments;
I want this shortcut to work so I don't have to kconsole to open kwrite with root priviledges. I want to be able to open "kwrite" only by double clicking the file, if is possible.

Javi

i've had that happen to me on occasion. from what i've discerned, it's not a kdesu error, rather than it's a kwrite bug of some sort. there are 2 methods i've used to work around this. one, open kwrite as normal user from the kicker menu &/or as root from terminal, close it, then try opening a file via the normal method. two, retstart KDE. a third possibility is there's a kwrite process already running which is locking it. you can check that with the ps -aux command in terminal as root. if you see a kwrite process running when kwrite isn't open, kill the process by typing kil (pid number) (hit enter).

otis

JMR0311, to answer your question, nautilus can be installed and used with the KDE desktop. Just install nautilus from the mandrake control center. Then set it to run as root.

I know this configuration works, I use it every day.

So, in Nautilus ones you set it to run as a root you can click a file name and is going to open the file content with the same root priviledges so if I want to edit the file I can. Because that's what I want to do with the shortcut I create it. I don't want to navigate to my command line to run kwrite with root priviledges so I can edit files.. I want to be able to open a file in "kwrite" from within Konqueror application using the same root priviledges I already establish, just by double clicking the file. I want to know the command or the switch I have to add to the configuration discuss in here. If this isn't possible, instead I will like to add in the service menu, when you right click a file, a service like this "Kwrite su" or 'KDE kwrite su", so when you click it, will prompt you to enter the root password and then open the file in question with root priviledges to perform editing.

Javi

jmr0311
I to am very new to Linux and I too was looking for a way to do what you are trying to do with having "root" access to a text editor without going to a command line. I am no CLI person, I never seem to get the correct commands typed correctly even in the old DOS.

If your are just looking for a way to get to KWrite or any other text editor with "root" access from the desktop you might try what I did, it's not a file manager just KWrite. You can edit the file of your choice and save it, you want have a file manager as such.

If you want a icon on your desktop follow ALL the instructions given you by edcutis but instead of typing nautilus in the command window, type kdesu kwrite and all the rest of the instructions as per edcutis.

I am not sure this will work, I haven't tried it myself but you should be able to put it in the menu following the instructions from the other web site and substitute kwritesu instead of konquerorsu. You might have to play around with this one a little to get it the way you want it.

Hope it works for you.
Dooley

To give you guy's an update to my original post. I find out that my system was lacking a crucial package " kde base package "
Now I have kdebase-3.2-79mdk and the lack of this package was preventing Konq from opening kwrite as a root. After I update the system using Mandrake Control Center, everything start working. Thanks to all of you for the help.

Javi