Gksu in 14.04?

Thu Aug 7 16:07:28 UTC 2014

On Thu, 07 Aug 2014 05:59:50 -0400, Tom H wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 7:04 PM, sktsee <sktseer at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, 06 Aug 2014 16:30:01 -0400, Tom H wrote:
>>> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 2:05 PM, MR ZenWiz <mrzenwiz at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 10:59 AM, MR ZenWiz <mrzenwiz at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 10:10 AM, Tom H <tomh0665 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> gksu/gksudo is abandonware upstream and pkexec is the replacement.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you.
>>>>
>>>> PS: It would have been really handy to have this listed in 
thehttps://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?
q=packages.ubuntu&appver=31.0&platform=linux
>>>> release
>> notes....
>>>
>>> I've never used gksu/gksudo or pkexec (unless I'm using themhttps://
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?
q=packages.ubuntu&appver=31.0&platform=linux
>>> implicitly when I use the NM gui). Are they really used that widely
>>> and that often that they rate a mention in the release notes?
>>
>> Below is a list of packages that depend or recommends gksu in Precise:
>>
>> sktsee at muon:~$ apt-rdepends -r gksu -s DEPENDS -s RECOMMENDS Reading
>> package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state
>> information... Done gksu
>>   Reverse Depends: aptoncd (0.1.98+bzr117-1.2)
>>   Reverse Depends: checkbox-gtk (0.13.7)
>>   Reverse Depends: foomatic-gui (0.7.9.5build1)
>>   Reverse Depends: gameconqueror (0.12-2)
>>   Reverse Depends: gdebi (0.8.5build1)
>>   Reverse Depends: gdecrypt (0.7.2.2-0ubuntu6)
>>   Reverse Depends: gkdebconf (>= 1.2.66ubuntu1)
>>   Reverse Depends: gnome-codec-install (0.4.7+nmu1ubuntu3)
>>   Reverse Depends: hannah-foo2zjs (1:1)
>>   Reverse Depends: hplip-gui (3.12.2-1ubuntu3)
>>   Reverse Depends: l2tp-ipsec-vpn (>= 1.0.6-1)
>>   Reverse Depends: mythtv-backend (2:0.25.[truncated]
>>   Reverse Depends: mythtv-frontend (2:0.25 [truncated]
>>   Reverse Depends: network-config (0.2-1)
>>   Reverse Depends: sadms (2.0.15.repack-0ubuntu2)
>>   Reverse Depends: sbackup-gtk (0.11.4-0ubuntu4)polkit support gedit
>>   Reverse Depends: system-config-date (1.9.60-0ubuntu2)
>>   Reverse Depends: tcos-configurator (1.22)
>>   Reverse Depends: tcos-standalone (0.89.86)
>>   Reverse Depends: tcosconfig (0.3.30)
>>   Reverse Depends: tcosmonitor (0.2.43)
>>   Reverse Depends: ubiquity-frontend-gtk (2.10.16)
>>   Reverse Depends: ubuntu-tweak (0.8.6-1~precise1)
>>   Reverse Depends: update-manager (1:0.156.14)
>>   Reverse Depends: update-notifier (0.119ubuntu8.1)
>>   Reverse Depends: usb-imagewriter (0.1.3-0ubuntu5)
>>   Reverse Depends: xnetcardconfig (0.2.1-1)
>>   Reverse Recommends: ettercap-graphical (1:0.7.4.2-1)
>>   Reverse Recommends: galternatives (0.13.5+nmu2ubuntu1)
>>   Reverse Recommends: gpppon (0.3-2ubuntu1)
>>   Reverse Recommends: guymager (0.5.9-1)
>>   Reverse Recommends: lxde-core (0.5.0-4ubuntu3)
>>   Reverse Recommends: macchanger-gtk (1.1-4)
>>   Reverse Recommends: pysdm (0.4.1-0ubuntu3)
>>   Reverse Recommends: synaptic (0.75.9ubuntu1)
>>   Reverse Recommends: wicd-gtk (1.7.2.3-1)
>>   Reverse Recommends: zenmap (5.21-1.1ubuntu1)
> 
> This list is strange. I have update-manager and update-notifier on my
> laptop but I don't have gksu:
> 
> # dpkg -l | egrep ^update-'manager|notifier'
> ii  update-notifier                                       0.154.1
>                                        amd64        Daemon which
> notifies about package updates ii  update-notifier-common               
>                 0.154.1
>                                        all          Files shared
> between update-notifier and other packages # dpkg -l | grep gksu #

The list above is from my 12.04.5 machine. After Precise, update-manager/
notifier were changed to use polkit and gksu was moved from main to 
universe.

> 
> 
>> There's likely a few programs listed above that some on this list find
>> useful enough to keep installed on their machines.
> 
> As long as they're in universe why not. Over time they'll lose their
> dependency on gksu.

At the currently rather slow rate that applications are being either 
rewritten to include polkit support or setup to use polkit with a wrapper 
script and  a policy file, I think gksu will hang around for quite a 
while longer. It's certainly the easiest and most useful way for desktop 
users to gain elevated privileges for their gui apps that are non-polkit 
aware.

> I wonder whether Ubuntu has a policy that packages in main can't depend
> on packages in universe.

http://people.canonical.com/~cjwatson/ubuntu-policy/policy.html/ch-
archive.html

"Every package in main must comply with the Ubuntu Licensing Policy.

In addition, the packages in main

must not require a package outside of main for compilation or execution 
(thus, the package must not declare a "Depends", "Recommends", or "Build-
Depends" relationship on a non-main package),

must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them, and

must meet all policy requirements presented in this manual."

Debian's policy includes "Pre-Depends" and "Build-Depends-Indep" as 
prohibited relationships. 

Basically, packages in main can only have Suggests: dependencies on 
packages outside of main, though if I understood the recent discussion on 
the Debian technical committee list correctly, this could change in the 
near future wrt non-free packages.

-- 
sktsee