Gnome and ppp connections

[Anne et Bertrand <anneetbertrand wanadoo fr>]

Hello,

since a few days, I've got a problem with my ppp connection with gnome-1.4
on LinuxPPC.
I'm using a 56K modem and I've configured a "ppp0" interface for months
now, that can be activated or deactivated by any user on my machine. I did
activate and deactivate it using the modem_light_applet, letting it call
the command "ifup ppp0" and "ifdown ppp0".

But now, the modem_light_applet is unable to activate or deactivate the
connection IF I'M NOT ROOT. And that's a problem !

I firts thought it had something to do with a recent gdm security fix,
because I found the problem a few time after that I've installed
gdm-ximian-2.2.2-1. But downgrading to a former version did not change
anything.
it may be another gnome-package I've recently upgraded, but I don't know.

Strange thing too : nautilus-1.04  isn't able to launch my "pppon" script
(which says in fact "#!/bin/sh ifup ppp0"), though this script can be
launched by any user in a gnome-terminal. And I've got the same result with
a panel-launcher calling that script or the command directly.

So I suppose this kind of action (to activate an interface) is now
forbidden  for non-root user in Gnome panel and nautilus (and so on the
desktop) or in a gnome-session.

Is it really the case ?

What is the solution ?
I need such a very simple way to activate the interface : I'm not the only
user on my machine, it isn't allways connected to the net (it's not free !)
and the other users  must definitely have a very simple way to establish
the connection. They will never  open a terminal to write "pppon" in order
to do this. And they won't think to deactivate it after use if it isn't
visible thanks to modem_light_applet.

Thanks,
Bertrand Dekoninck.