User administration

alewis · 04-05-2006, 06:48 AM

Hi

Running Suse 10. Two users (root and myself).

Now certain graphical apps will only run in root mode. How do I run them as such, when I am logged in as me?

Using KDE User Manager I tried adding myself to the root group, but I get an error message that etc/gshadow does not exist, and then another that cant create a backup file for /etc/gshadow.

Any ideas what this is about, and how I fix it? Or how do I get graphical apps to run with root privs?

acid_kewpie · 04-05-2006, 07:17 AM

you would use su to become root, or configure /etc/sudoers to allow you to use the sudo command to run specific applications. check both the su and sudo manpages for details. don't add yourself to the root group, that's a really really bad way to go. some distro's employ a "wheel" gropu which is used to hold administrators, but sudo is normally preferred.

alewis · 04-05-2006, 07:30 AM

Chers Chris. I use su in a command prompt (although the command seems to lose any form of path, and is therefore restricted in what it can run, if you see what I mean).

For convenience, I want to use the taskbar to launch an app, when logged in as me. But that app requires root privs... I had a quick gander at the sudoers file.. er, wtf ist that on about! The manpages look as though they were written by computer for a calculator to read...!

alewis · 04-05-2006, 07:34 AM

Ah, found a way using the menu editor, and the 'run as other user' option.

reddazz · 04-05-2006, 07:51 AM

If a KDE app needs root privileges, usually you are asked for the root password before the program runs. For those that don't, you can do "kdesu nameOfApp".