root priveleges for the desktop and GUI apps in Fedora

[Tom]

Tom 'Needs A Hat' Mitchell wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 15, 2004 at 06:32:43PM -0500, Tom wrote:
> 
> 
>>When I run an app that requires root it prompts me for the root 
>>password.  After I enter it a 'key' icon appears on the right side of 
>>the panel.  This appears to indicate that I have root priveleges for my 
>>GUI session.  This is a great idea which could save me from entering my 
>>root password repeatedly.
>>
>>But it doesn't seem to work completely.  The key dissapears after a 
>>while, and I still encounter some cases where it doesn't recognize that 
>>I have root privileges.
>>
>>Is there documentation for this feature somewhere?  Is this a RH feature?
> 
> 
> It is supposed to time out.
> It is working correctly.
> 
> However you can tune it.  But be cautious....
> be very cautious...
> 
> Follow the chain of things here.
> 
>   $ file /usr/bin/up2date
>   /usr/bin/up2date: symbolic link to `consolehelper'
>   $ file /usr/sbin/up2date
> 
> So the hook is `consolehelper`.  There is a great man page for
> "consolehelper".  Next according to the man page needs pam services.
> Looke here...
> 
>   /etc/pam.d/...
>  and
>   /etc/security/....
> 
> Check the list of things that "man -k pam" tosses your way.
> For sure you need to check the man page on pam_timestamp.....
> Look to see how it is used...
> 
> When you understand all this and also what you want, get out the note
> book and have at it.  You may need the notebook after up2date or yum
> update a file that the package manager did not expect you to touch.
> There are +60 utilities in addition to up2date that use this set 
> of tricks.
> 
> Better to use 'sudo' or 'su -' or just enter the magic word.
> 

Thanks.
This does sound a little tricky though.

Some might think this feature is a bit dangerous and must be time 
limited.  Personally I think it is a great convenience and I don't think 
  it is dangerous because the 'key' icon warns you very clearly that you 
have root, and allows you to relinquish it.

Tom.