I encounter some awkward situations while I am in Gnome which I would like to be rectified.

1) The fonts of KDE Apps are huge! I don't know what to do in order to shrink them and it's getting very frustrating because many application's windows won't fit in the screen.

2) I would like as a unprivileged user to be able to shutdown the system using the gnome menu. As root I can do it but as a simple user I can only log out. Is there any way to alter this?

Thanks in advance.

My problem is backwards. Fonts in KDE are small in gnome programs such as mozilla and xchat. I have to run gnome control center to make them look the right size. Is there a way to set this up so they look the same in KDE and Gnome.

XPediTioN

2) Try sudo.

other solutions:

chown [username] /sbin/halt ---simple but not as secure as sudo

or

add [username] to the "halt" group (not the same as sudo), can't remember the console commands, I usually use applications->system tools->users & groups program in gnome

The group "halt" doesn't exist but this not the case. I don't wish to be able to shutdown the system from a console window but from the gnome menu(Actions -> Shutdown). As root this option exists but as a simple user it is being replaced by the Log out option.

Also, does anyone know how to resolve the fonts problem ?

This was posted a long time ago in a galaxy far away. Actually someone posted it here last year. It is not my creation, I should have save the writer's name and apologize to him for not crediting him.

Thank you for your quick reply. I have also found another answer that doesn't seem to require rebuilding gnome-session (posted here for other users searching on this question):

1. (as root) mkdir /var/run/console
2. (as root) touch /var/run/console/<username> (Substitute in the user name of the user to be allowed to shut down the system for <username> )

At this point, you will now have the menu available when you click log off, but all of the options will just log you off instead of actually shutting down or rebooting the system.

3. Make sure you have permission to run /sbin/halt as that user. One way (not necessarily the most secure, because this will let any user on your system shut it down by tying the command "/sbin/halt") is to run (as root) "chmod +s /sbin/halt".

The options on the log off menu should work now. If they don't, try running (as root) "ln -s /sbin/halt /usr/bin/halt".

You will need to repeat step two for every user you want to allow to do this.

Thank you very much ringwraith . I am gonna try it right away

ans for first question:
if u use only gnome, then run kcontrol (the kde control center) in gnome and change the fonts there.

oops sorry you're right! I have a user called "halt" not a group!