Features/gksudo

gksudo gksu/gksudo for Fedora

Summary

Allow users to take advantage of sudo functionality to perform graphical root operations (such as tools in the System->Administration menu) using gksudo.

Owner

• Name:
• Email:

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora 14
• Last updated: 2010-06-22
• Percentage of completion: 0%

Detailed Description

• I am proposing this feature as a missing element in Fedora. Other major operating systems (Ubuntu, Windows, Mac) have the capability for an end user to perform admin functions without having to memorize a rarely-used different password. This functionality is quite noticeably missing from Fedora. It seems with gksudo already in heavy use in another major distro (Ubuntu), Fedora could leverage this tool to integrate this capability without a lot of extra effort.

• I'm not entirely sure what relationship gksu, Gnome and PolicyKit have with each other, although gksu seems to be hosted as part of the Gnome project. Perhaps this feature could be accomplished through additional improvements to PolicyKit. In any case, the end user experience in a vanilla Fedora install today is notably different and much less user friendly than Fedora's peers in this space and at least one other Linux distribution has solved that problem using gksudo.

Benefit to Fedora

Fedora users will no longer be required to pick and remember a root password as part of the installation process, which if forgotten, requires system recovery steps to perform admin functions. Instead, they are able to use their own password to escalate privileges, ala sudo, when required to perform admin functions through the GUI.

Scope

I have done no analysis of what is required to integrate this capability. I'm a Fedora-lover who is saddened with each major release to not see this capability in Fedora, I'm hoping Fedora 14 can finally change that.

User Experience

The user will be prompted for their own password instead of a separate root password when performing root operations through the GUI.

Documentation

• gksu Gnome reference page: http://live.gnome.org/gksu

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