kdesu kate, editing system files

[pwabrahams]

I want to use the kate editor to edit system files such as /etc/fstab. I can do "kdesu kate" from a command shell and it works correctly. But if I create a desktop icon with the application specified as

kdesu kate --use %U

and click on it, the application never starts. Why is that? And is there a way to start kate in superuser mode by clicking on something on the desktop?

Same question for emacs, which I actually prefer.

[eriefisher]

Re: kdesu kate, editing system files

Did you make the icon executable? Right click on the icon and go to permissions to check "executable". Also check the permissions while you are there.

[Fenyx]

Re: kdesu kate, editing system files

Use

kdesu 'kate --use %U'

instead. Because without the quotes, the system will interpret --use to be an option for kdesu, which doesn't exist.

By the way, you can also right-click on a root-owned file in Konqueror, select Actions -> Edit as Root for the same effect.

[pwabrahams]

Re: kdesu kate, editing system files

I took both those suggestions and it works perfectly.