problem with kdesudo dolphin

[Snowhog]

There is a 'risk' in running graphical applications launched using sudo. See Running Sudo Graphically by psycho cat.

[kubicle]

I've used both sudo dolphin and kdesu dolphin interchangeably for a long time (over several versions of Kubuntu) without any problems. I have seen no difference, and there is no difference in ownership.

It will work most of the time, but sometimes it causes change of ownerships in files the GUI program accesses during it's normal operation, which can lead to problems (doesn't mean it'll always do so). If you haven't run into a problem, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

A lot of files have root permissions. Using Dolphin as root is necessary to manipulate those files.

How exactly is this relevant, I did not say you couldn't run dolphin as root? I do it all the time.

[kubicle]

It will work most of the time, but sometimes it causes change of ownerships in files the GUI program accesses during it's normal operation, which can lead to problems (doesn't mean it'll always do so). If you haven't run into a problem, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

To elaborate a bit on what I think is the main problem (and difference) between sudo (as it is configured in *buntus) and kdesudo when launching GUI apps, here's a small demonstration:
1. a short script that prints the $HOME environment variable:

#!/bin/bash
echo $HOME

2. three outputs for sudo and kdesudo:
$ sudo ./testscript
/home/username
$ sudo -H ./testscript
/root
$ kdesudo ./testscript
/root
3. So when you launch an app with sudo, it runs as root, but $HOME is still set as user's home directory...and GUI apps (depending on the app of course) may create/modify files in $HOME during their normal operation (caching, configuration etc.) and these may end up being owned by root (as the app is running under UID root)