Question - How do I handle the pending loss of root access to Dolphin and Kate?

[TWPonKubuntu]

I've been using root access for Dolphin and Kate in my development system and I'm not happy with the news about this being disallowed in future versions...

So what are my alternatives? Command line only? Which is NOT a good solution and it would make me change my GUI workflow... Not my even my second or third choice for work.

Is there a "work-around" for this? Yes, I'm very aware of the security risk and bad practice this would represent. I did not just fall off the turnip truck on its way to town...

For those of you who use Linux for income purposes, how do you expect deal with this?

If the mods want to move this to some other forum, please feel free to do so.

[Rog131]

Developers are telling

Martin Gräßlin wrote: Editing files as root - https://blog.martin-graesslin.com/bl...files-as-root/

KDE Applications 17.04.0 Full Log Page: https://www.kde.org/announcements/fu...ersion=17.04.0

https://www.kde.org/announcements/fu...n=17.04.0#kate
-> Disallow executing kate and kwrite as root on Linux: https://cgit.kde.org/kate.git/commit...c99f46b0e12a7e

https://www.kde.org/announcements/fu...7.04.0#dolphin
-> Disallow executing Dolphin as root on Linux: https://cgit.kde.org/dolphin.git/com...1e9b417cf89791

Kate/kwrite

Can be started with the sudoedit:

Earlier: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post399157

As a KDE Service Menu: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...156#post399156


From the KDE Frameworks 5.34 onwards the kate/kwrite will ask the password if needed: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post399923

Dolphin

Earlier: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post398748

- You could use other file managers.
- You could rebuild the Dolphin without the root check.

KIO will get Polkit support this summer: http://rpchinmoy.blogspot.fi/2017/05...is-summer.html

[TWPonKubuntu]

rog131,

Thank you. Kate looks promising, but 17.04 will be 64bit (my understanding) which is a no-go on my laptop...

Dolphin, on the other hand, is a problem. I really like the dual pane file list. It makes file management much easier, particularly when I'm moving web pages from dev folders to test installation.

The other factor is that KDE is no longer friendly with my 32 bit systems. I'm using xfce for now and it works, but not sure what will happen with the root lockout. It hasn't made the migration to xfce, yet...

Yes, I know 32bit is on the way out... Just not able to make that jump yet; "$$$$$$$$".

I've not found any file manager which is better than Dolphin for my usage. Rebuilding Dolphin from source code is not a great solution, since it would need to be done for every Dolphin update... But I may be forced into this if push comes to shove.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

[whatthefunk]

What are you doing with Dolphin that requires root access? Command line is generally easier I've found.

[vinnywright]

krusader still works in root mode ,,,and it's built in text editor dose as well

VINNY

[TWPonKubuntu]

@whatthfunk; I use Dolphin / Kate when I configure my system. That means any files with root ownership or my ownership. Since I do website development, I frequently need to open/edit/save files which have root ownership. These are usually part of my local server configuration.

@vinny; I've not tried krusader. Will it run under xfce DE? Haven't tried yet.

ALL: do be aware that I'm running Linux Mint xfce, because KDE, as of 16.04 LTS will no longer install on my system (that's another story for a different thread).

[vinnywright]

@vinny; I've not tried krusader. Will it run under xfce DE? Haven't tried yet.

I have not eather ,,,,but it dose run under fluxbox ,,,,,my alternate DE of choice ,,,,but all of KDE is installed as well as fluxbox is running on Kubuntu .

ALL: do be aware that I'm running Linux Mint xfce, because KDE, as of 16.04 LTS will no longer install on my system (that's another story for a different thread).

what do you mean by this ,,,,,,Kubuntu-16.04 comes in 32bit if you cant run 64 ?

and thats not KDE ,it's Kubuntu ,,KDE is a DE (desktop environment)

just how old is your box ,,,,what are the specs ?

VINNY

[TWPonKubuntu]

@vinny;

Re my problems with Kubuntu, I posted a long thread on this, so I won't go into it here because it doesn't relate to the root access problem. Link below. I've moved on and will come back to Kubuntu when I get a newer system which can work with it.

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php?t=71198

[whatthefunk]

I use Dolphin / Kate when I configure my system. That means any files with root ownership or my ownership. Since I do website development, I frequently need to open/edit/save files which have root ownership. These are usually part of my local server configuration.

I do web development too and the only time I ever have to deal with root files is when setting up a new project on apache, which can easily be done with a command line editor like nano. Do you keep your projects in /var/www?

[TWPonKubuntu]

whatthefunk;

Yes, I run the code from there, but develop in my /home/dev/*** folders.

I do know that nano will run from command line, but my personal preference is to use GUI's where possible, hence the problem with getting root access. Jumping back and forth between editors seems like a slow way to work.

[whatthefunk]

Point your apache server to your /home/dev/*** project folders. Example virtual host file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
      ServerName www.project-name.dev
      ServerAlias project-name.dev
      ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
      DocumentRoot /home/dev/***/project-name/public
      DirectoryIndex index.php
      ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
      CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
      <Directory /home/dev/***/project-name/public>
              Options All
              AllowOverride All
              Require all granted
      </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

This way you won't have to keep moving files around.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Yes, that would work. I use /var/www because it will contain only the files which will eventually be moved to the production server when it goes live. My dev folders will have a lot of files which are not final versions or are backups copies.

I'm not saying your suggestion won't work, and I do see that it would not need root access during the development process.

I'm weighing the benefits to my workflow. Yeah, I may be forced to change and modify my system. Thinking...

Arggh! I think I'll go back to the Apple II and play solitaire...

[whatthefunk]

My dev folders will have a lot of files which are not final versions or are backups copies.

Version control will solve this problem. I use git, but there are many other options. Whats nice about using git is that you can keep you projects in an online git repository. This allows you to have backups of everything and also makes deploying dead simple. On my production server, I simply clone the git repository and when I make changes, I pull in the fresh version. Only takes a couple minutes. You can also use git hooks to automatically update the code on your servers.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Ok, I like the idea, except for the online repository (lack of trust in third party storage). I can address that by using my other local server and set up a repository on it.

Thanks, I'll play with this and hope I get something which works before the root access lock comes down from the linux devs (hallowed be their names...).