Kubuntu Quantal Plans

[gnomek]

There is this idea about password/security settings dialog window
http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=113&t=102257
Is it something relating to KDE in general or can be addressed by Kubuntu developers? I think it needs attention.

[OneLine]

Password query

Is it something relating to KDE...

I think that this is bigger than the KDE - It is from the Unix.

The default is: The admin will give the temporary password and the user will set his/hers own password when log in first time.



Konsole:



Of course the root can change this.

man passwd

NAME
passwd - change user password

SYNOPSIS
passwd [options] [LOGIN]

DESCRIPTION
The passwd command changes passwords for user accounts. A normal user may only change the password
for his/her own account, while the superuser may change the password for any account. passwd also
changes the account or associated password validity period.

Password Changes
The user is first prompted for his/her old password, if one is present...

man chage

NAME
chage - change user password expiry information

SYNOPSIS
chage [options] [LOGIN]

DESCRIPTION
The chage command changes the number of days between password changes and the date of the last
password change. This information is used by the system to determine when a user must change his/her
password...

Chage examples: http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2009/04/...ion-and-aging/

[gnomek]

Ok. I can do it in Konsole but I still think the GUI requires change. As far as I remember in Gnome 2 there was an option to retype password.

When I use and admin account and set/change password for admin it would be better to just retype password while changing it to make sure that it is 100% correct. I have just checked it. I changed admin password and when logged in I wasn't ask to set/retype password. And for changing password in Konsole an old password is required. When I make a mistake and don't have a note with correctly written password or I just first write type password on paper but then mistype one keyboard sign this would mean that I can't act as an administrator anymore. That's may result in serious problems, especially when Kubuntu is used in business environment.

After all if there is a GUI option it should not force administrator to use Konsole just to make sure that such trivial thing as setting, changing password is done correctly.

And I guess this is not a big deal for developers to add this "retype field" to GUI. So it would be good to draw their attention to this issue. I am not sure if they read KDE brainstorm at all.

[SteveRiley]

Yes, any field that permits setting or resetting a password should be accompanied by a confirmation field, precisely to avoid typos.

But it is never a good idea for administrators to know individual user passwords. A password is a secret, known only by the user, and serves to prove the user's identity to the system. This is necessary for achieving nonrepudiation, and is actually a proper design for any enterprise-grade authentication system. The idea proposed in that KDE Brainstorm post -- that the admin should be able to a curtail a user's ability to set her own password -- is incorrect.

When only Alice knows her password, then any action performed in her user context can be considered as a true action of Alice and only Alice. If someone else knows her password, this confidence can't be assured. Either Alice or the other person could deny having performed such action.

It is entirely appropriate for systems to offer mechanisms for enforcing password policies. And it is entirely appropriate for systems to allow administrators to take over a user's account, but only by using an administrator account (thus preserving nonrepudiation of that action). But it is entirely inappropriate for users not to be guaranteed that their passwords are secrets known only by them.

[geoaraujo]

Extraordinary...

http://ubuntu.5.n6.nabble.com/seed-c...td4980844.html

@geoaraujo,

You will find an answer to your question in the link above

It's what it seems...
Anyway, Calligra looks very nice comparison to LibreOffice. Besides some extensions available to LibreOffice, what prevents many users from using Calligra is, as everybody knows, not being able to save .doc. Since I do not code, I wonder if that's too hard to implement...

[OneLine]

Reset password

...When I make a mistake and don't have a note with correctly written password or I just first write type password on paper but then mistype one keyboard sign this would mean that I can't act as an administrator anymore. That's may result in serious problems, especially when Kubuntu is used in business environment...

I wouldn't call this as a serious problem - maybe a nuisance.

If you can reboot the system then you could reset the passwords: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LostPassword


1) Reboot and change the recovery mode from the read only (ro) to the read write (rw)






2) Drop to the root shell

3) Reset the root/administrator password

[gnomek]

@OneLine Thank you for this reference. Yes, it can be done but root password is required. I guess in Kubuntu it would have to be set in the first place. But I deactivated root account for security reasons. I guess without admin (sudo) password it would be impossible for me to do it. Anyway, maybe it might be called a nuisance but it may be avoided. I agree with SteveRiley explanation that users password should be set by users themselves but still this "retype" option seems useful to me.

[OneLine]

Yes, it can be done but root password is required...

No, you don't need any kind of password to reset passwords. You need to restart the system to the recovery mode (+rw). You will have the root rights automagically - You "click" the "Drop to the root shell" - no passwords asked.

...But I deactivated root account for security reasons...

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

By default, the Root account password is locked in Ubuntu. This means that you cannot login as Root directly or use the su command to become the Root user. However, since the Root account physically exists it is still possible to run programs with root-level privileges...

[gnomek]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

I am most grateful for this lesson. I still need to learn a lot about Linux. So every occasion is good. This is going a little off topic but as an explanation about deactivating root I followed this reasoning
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...0&postcount=22
and I locked root account
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1618883

[gnomek]

I reported this as wish on bugs.kde.org and got reply that: "Bugs for the User Management systemsettings module are not tracked at the KDE bug tracker, because it is a distribution-specific add-on."
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=302887

Is Ubuntu launchpad an appropriate place to report it? Is it going to be noticed by Kubuntu developers?
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu
There is no such thing as bugs.launchpad.net/kubuntu
Perhaps it would be good to create it? This way Kubuntu specific bugs could be listed. At the moment I think there is no way to filter Kubuntu bugs. It would be useful to be able to filter latest distribution specific bugs. Linux Mint has its own part of launchpad.
https://launchpad.net/linuxmint

[OneLine]

Userconfig

Looking:

kcmshell4 --list | grep user
userconfig - Users & Groups Administration
...

and

:~$ locate userconfig
/usr/share/doc/userconfig
...

The userconfig is a python script, copyright etc: /usr/share/doc/userconfig/

Package information, where to file the bug:

:~$ apt-cache show userconfig
Package: userconfig
Priority: extra
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 237
Maintainer: Kubuntu Developers <***@***>
Original-Maintainer: Jonathan Riddell <***@***>
...
Description: user and group setup tool for KDE
A System Settings module for managing users and groups on your system.
Homepage: https://code.launchpad.net/~kubuntu-...serconfig-kde4
...
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Origin: Ubuntu

Ubuntu packages: http://packages.ubuntu.com/
--> Userconfig: http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...ll&section=all
--> Open bugs: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu...erconfig/+bugs

#451746 Password verification box is missing

[OneLine]

The KDE Application

The KDE application is the KUser:

- http://www.kde.org/applications/system/kuser/
- http://userbase.kde.org/KUser
- http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...ser-Management


It has the password verification.

[gnomek]

I read your post about kuser
http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...ser-Management
Indeed in kuser this can be done, there is retype option - visible on a screenshot above - but kuser is not installed by default in Kubuntu. At least I didn't have it.

On Kubuntu 12.04 32-bit I don't have this retype settings.
http://img22.otofotki.pl/cw243_password.png.html


I wish this retype option could be by default in Kubuntu system settings because it is very common feature. Even when I register to forums there is retype password option. At least users who are new to KDE expect to have this retype option by default.
It is good that there are workarounds but anyway ...

I added comment to bug "Password verification box is missing ", which is three years old:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ig/+bug/451746
and added this bug as "Releted bugs" to
https://code.launchpad.net/~kubuntu-...serconfig-kde4

I hope userconfig-kde4 package maintainer will notice it.

[OneLine]

- but kuser is not installed by default in Kubuntu. At least I didn't have it.

There are many ways to get the KDE/Kubuntu desktop: http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...t-Installation

The KUser is part of the kubuntu-full /1/. You could add applications if you want to.

On Kubuntu 12.04 32-bit I don't have this retype settings....

The first tab of the KUser- Set Password.




Links

1. http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...ll&section=all

[gnomek]

I installed Kubuntu dvd from
http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/download
I already installed Kuser and I can even use Konsole for that too. No problem for me. But this doesn't change the point that this option should be in Kubuntu system settings by default, the same as it is in Yast and Mandriva Control Center, as you showed. But that's my private opinion.
After installing Kuser I opened system settings and Kuser is not integrated in user management options there. I opened it as separate application.
Anyway I hope userconfig-kde4 package maintainer will consider doing it.