[SOLVED]Authentication failure

[Balderick]

When trying to use Add/Remmove Software desktop app after selecting any packages and entering the password for authenication (the one that was created to obtain sudo powers as described in FAQ) into authentification box get "sorry that did not work"
Same for Software Sources gui.

What i am doing is Going to desktop > Activities > Applications > Add/Remove Software > selecting/deselecting any package > Apply > enter password >Authenticate gives "Sorry that did not work. Please try again"

see http://imgur.com/Lqzhasi.png


Why can i not authenticate changes in these apps?

N.B. Running the latest packages from steampowored basically means installing GKSU is a bad idea...

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Solution

post #55
doh facepalm i am a steamin great
The solution to setting su password and all credit to pnarciso for posting http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/648814842137539391/?tscn=1387681579#c648814842138541063 when i read that post the penny dropped.

Apologies to doc holliday and to wh1sper_123 i just did not get gist of what you were trying to say. su = root user and sudo = root powers to desktop user which means two different passwords after setting a password for su.

I have learned a lot today and appreciate everybodies help here today and must commend Hitsuji for their teaching skills.

[Balderick]

Are you having a laugh? edited OP I did say i enterd a password but to make it crystal clear i followed faq to obtain root powers :-) Looks like yet another bug....
Why does gnome desktop apps want a different password from the one i set for desktop user account "desktop"?

[wh1sper_123]

Originally posted by T40-1PvtBalderick:

Are you having a laugh? edited OP I did say i enterd a password but to make it crystal clear i followed faq to obtain root powers :-) Looks like yet another bug....
Why does gnome desktop apps want a different password from the one i set for desktop user account "desktop"?

answering why is simple. installing applications is system wide operation. desktop user is just a user and owner of his desktop only, unlike root who is system master.

asking user for his password in the middle of his working session never made any sense security wise to me. any application run by desktop user also gets all privileges with that

there is always option to go with sudo solution but you basically lost most security as nothing stops anything to simply call "sudo something". then again, i never liked sudo, so i might be missing some fine grain tuning that can solve those and this might be in fact just my personal lack of knowing sudo.

and then there is also much simpler option to set same password for user and root which is probably what you want. open terminal and execute
su -
passwd
[enter old password]
[enter new password] 2x

[Balderick]

lol. I have asked this question due to having sudo powers for desktop account but the gnome gui for add/remove software and software sources are refusing to acknowledge the set password i.e it is no longer desktop for desktop user account.

I can install packages from cli as expected. I can add sources to sources.list using nano from cli as expected. i.e i have a working password.

Going to desktop > Activities > Applications > Add/Remove Software > selecting/deselecting any package > Apply > enter password >Authenticate gives "Sorry that did not work. Please try again"

How to troubleshoot fix?

[Hitsuji]

The desktop account only has that password the first time you login. It has NO password after that once you run the post setup script. you must enable a password with: passwd.

Also you should not be using sudo for graphical apps, but install and use gksudo instead.

[Balderick]

There should be no need to manually specify gksudo for launching these apps and problem i mention. These apps are asking for password but not accepting the password that was created for desktop user account using passwd.

Going to desktop > Activities > Applications > Add/Remove Software > selecting/deselecting any package > Apply > enter password >Authenticate gives "Sorry that did not work. Please try again"

I am not using sudo. "Authentication is required to add or remove packages" Administrator password is required for authenitication.

Capiche?

[wh1sper_123]

ahhhh, my bad. misunderstood your question

not every application goes trough sudo execute_something
add/remove uses PackageKit API which is framework for Package management and it probably works differently

and you being sudo privileged user doesn't mean you'll work without password everywhere. i still say sudo is BAD KARMA though, do you remember "with power also comes responsibility" and sudo is power i really don't want. su - is not only more convenient, it's also more selective and secure

[Balderick]

rflol
wow
holy moly
Are you jesting? stop it

Why is aptitude gui not accepting password?
Are you saying because i set sudo password i can not use aptitude gui because i have greater responsibility so just use cli?

still rfloling

[Hitsuji]

Originally posted by T40-1PvtBalderick:

There should be no need to manually specify gksudo for launching these apps and problem i mention. These apps are asking for password but not accepting the password that was created for desktop user account using passwd.

Going to desktop > Activities > Applications > Add/Remove Software > selecting/deselecting any package > Apply > enter password >Authenticate gives "Sorry that did not work. Please try again"

Capiche?

if its asking for a password without you running sudo or gksudo, then its asking for the root password and not the account password.

[Balderick]

I thought setting desktop account password is the root password. i.e giving superuser powers = Administrator privileges.
Describe difference between root, user account and Administrator password. I think they all the same password in this case/example.

[richi902]

thought so too, since it works the same so on ubuntu.

[EvilPinder]

Try running gksu-properties from a terminal and check that authentication type is set to sudo.

[Hitsuji]

Originally posted by T40-1PvtBalderick:

I thought setting desktop account password is the root password. i.e giving superuser powers = Administrator privileges.
Describe difference between root, user account and Administrator password. I think they all the same password in this case/example.

No, the root is root ( user name root, uid 0 ). The desktop account is in the sudo group and can therefore use sudo to assume roots identity.

The default behaviour in ubuntu is for graphical apps to use a gksudo like interface to request sudo priviledges ( as the root account is disabled ). In debian, it prompts instead for the root password as disabling the root account is optional.

[richi902]

so we need to disable the root user? or just a fault in the programm itself?

[Hitsuji]

Originally posted by richi902:

so we need to disable the root user? or just a fault in the programm itself?

As @EvilPinder said, if you want ubuntus behaviour, run gksu-properties and switch to sudo. otherwise call aptitude gui with gksudo.

[richi902]

hm.. ok, thanks!