[Bug 475503] Re: D-BUS activation fails to start console-kit-daemon with error: "Success"

[Biocyberman]

*** This bug is a duplicate of bug 295405 ***
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/295405

It's now 2014! I landed on this page because I saw exact error message
from my Ubuntu 21.04 box. Milan comment
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/consolekit/+bug/475503/comments/20)
was helpful for me. But WAIT! I did not take his advice literally and I
am glad that I did that.

A while a go I was careless enough to run "sudo chown -R myuser:root
/usr". I fixed that mistake by copying ownership and permissions from
another machine, but apparently it did not fix everything. After reading
Milan's comment, I did this:

On the problematic server:
ls -lah /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper 
-rwxr-xr-- 1 root root 287K Jun 13  2013 /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper

On the intact server: 
ls -lah /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper
-rwsr-xr-- 1 root messagebus 287K Jun 13  2013 /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper

So a chmod command fixed it:
sudo chmod 4754 /usr/lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper

So running "sudo find / -gid OLD_GID -exec chgrp NEW_GID '{}' \;" would be potentially very dangerous and time consuming too. One more WARNING: /usr is not really for "users". It's still a system directory that Linux does not like at all if you mess up with ownerships and permissions there. 
 
It's old thread but I want to write and save someone from troubles.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/475503

Title:
  D-BUS activation fails to start console-kit-daemon with error:
  "Success"

Status in “consolekit” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: gnome-system-tools

  Launching the System -> Administration -> Users and Groups results in
  a dialog "The configuration could not be loaded", An unknown error
  occurred.

  Running from a terminal :

  $ users-admin

  (users-admin:6773): polkitgtk-WARNING **: Error sync-checking
  authorization for action id `org.freedesktop.systemtoolsbackends.set':
  Remote Exception invoking
  org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Authority.CheckAuthorization() on
  /org/freedesktop/PolicyKit1/Authority at name
  org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1:
  org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: Failed to execute program
  /lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper: Success

  (users-admin:6773): Liboobs-WARNING **: There was an unknown error
  communicating with the backends: Failed to execute program
  /lib/dbus-1.0/dbus-daemon-launch-helper: Success

  $ lsb_release -rd
  Description:	Ubuntu 9.10
  Release:	9.10

  $ apt-cache policy gnome-system-tools
  gnome-system-tools:
    Installed: 2.28.1-0ubuntu2
    Candidate: 2.28.1-0ubuntu2
    Version table:
   *** 2.28.1-0ubuntu2 0
          500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

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