Re: GNOME and superuser (privilege raising) integration

[Hongli Lai <h lai chello nl>]

On Tuesday 13 May 2003 20:51, Sean Middleditch wrote:
> Consolehelper?  PAM != consolehelper.  Consolehelper is a way to do what
> your library already does; provide a wrapper/interface to launching apps
> as root (or whoever).  A "PAM" interface would actually make use of PAM
> itself - i.e., be a reimplementation of su (altho not portable).  A
> "consolehelper" backend may be useful, but then, RedHat already
> integrates things like the

But the problem is, *not all apps* have a PAM entry. And apps that do have a 
PAM entry can't be started as non-root without manually pressing the 'Start 
without password' button or something.
I don't think it's wise to make Nautilus a PAM app.


> If your library is going to be useful, it needs to work _without_ using
> distro specific workarounds/hacks.

Is there anything better? Do you propose that all applications should install 
a PAM entry?
There are too many different systems out there. It is unrealistic to expect 
all apps to support one single system. Unless we create something that 
support most/all of those different system, nothing will ever get done. And I 
don't think doing nothing is the correct answer.


> Also would have to be portable... world is bigger than just Linux.  ~,^

Which is why there is a su backend.


> I don't know the intricacies of, say, Solaris, but the lib would have to
> work on it.

If it doesn't yet then it can made to do so. I don't have a Solaris box but it 
should be easy for a random Solaris-using hacker to implement support.