Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

[rahei]

Hello, I'm facing a problem as I'm unable to even change the time on my freshly installed Kubuntu 8.04 KDE4 remix. I go to System settings -> Date & Time and then the 'Help' advises to clic on "Administrative mode" button but there is no such button..? I can't either see any user groups to add my self to administration group (though I don't know if this is even needed, I understood that you are able to access all administrative settings with your own password, just can't see the button)

And for those of you about to whine about it: Yes, I did use the search, just didn't find anything viable there, as topic discussed about not being able to reach the button NOT about the button being unavailable...

[arochester]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

If you can see and click the "Help" button on the bottom left, the "Administrative mode" button should be visible on the bottom right - unless your screen size is wrong. Does a scroll bar appear at the bottom?

[Fintan]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

Administrative mode is not fully implemented in system settings on kde4, as stated on various occasions here.
Install kcontrol and invoke it by doing alt+f2>

kcontrol

[evans62]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

rahei, sorry for jumping on your topic but I have installed kcontrol as mentioned and I still cannot add myself as admin using kcontrol and I can't even configure my eth0 cuz there is no admin network settings. Fintan, Pls help me and rahei.

[daihard]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

rahei, sorry for jumping on your topic but I have installed kcontrol as mentioned and I still cannot add myself as admin using kcontrol and I can't even configure my eth0 cuz there is no admin network settings. Fintan, Pls help me and rahei.

If you have kcontrol installed, you should able to run it as root (i.e. "Administrator"). Type the following in the terminal.

sudo kcontrol

This should bring up the whole "KDE Control Center" in the admin mode.

BTW, you said "I still cannot add myself as admin." You normally don't add yourself to "admin" under UNIX/Linux. You do as much as possible as yourself (i.e. non-admin) because misusing the root account can destroy your system. When you need admin privileges, such as adjusting date and time, you use the "sudo" command to mimick as root.

[evans62]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

I tried "sudo kcontrol" but I still can't find anywhere to configure my etho ip address.

Maybe it's because in konsole I get an error message about "directory xxx owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0"

[Fintan]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

Never use sudo with a gui / kde app!
That can seriously screw up your permissions.

uid is good don't worry. That is what you should be.

Always use kdesudo with kde/gui apps.
Speaking of which is it installed? :

sudo apt-get install kdesudo

sudo apt-get install kdesudo-kde4

Check also to see if all of your kde-guidance stuff is there. (check in adept)

Also check and see if kuser is installed.

Hope that helps for now.
Gotta go to sleep

[daihard]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

I tried "sudo kcontrol" but I still can't find anywhere to configure my etho ip address.

Maybe it's because in konsole I get an error message about "directory xxx owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0"

I didn't know this, but apparently you're not supposed to run KDE apps via sudo. My apology.

In any case, network configuration is not done through kcontrol. I'd know exactly which files to edit under Red Hat / Fedora, but Kubuntu seems to use totally different files for its network configuration. Sorry I can't help you more.

[daihard]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

Never use sudo with a gui / kde app!
That can seriously screw up your permissions.

Jus curious, how does using sudo with a KDE app screw up your permissions? I've been using KDE for quite some time and never heard of "kdesudo" before. In fact, none of my Linux computers at home and at work - running Fedora Core 6, CentOS 4.6 and RHEL 4/5 - have kdesudo installed, even though they all have KDE fully installed.

I'd be grateful if you could enlighten me on this.

[dibl]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

kdesu or kdesudo is the correct prefix to run a KDE app in Super User mode:

http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show...?content=72106

https://launchpad.net/kdesudo

http://www.linfo.org/kdesu.html

http://api.kde.org/3.5-api/kdelibs-a...tml/index.html

[evans62]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

Can someone help me to figure out why I don't have any admin buttons anywhere to be found and why "Network Settings" is missing from my System Settings menu?

Connections is there, but Network Settings and a lot of other things are missing. Without a network interface I can't get this desktop up and running and get packages in Adept.

[daihard]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

kdesu or kdesudo is the correct prefix to run a KDE app in Super User mode:

http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show...?content=72106

https://launchpad.net/kdesudo

http://www.linfo.org/kdesu.html

http://api.kde.org/3.5-api/kdelibs-a...tml/index.html

Thanks for the links. Now, I may still be missing something, but none of the links above explain why the use of "sudo" with a KDE app should be avoided. Would you be kind enough to show me where to look?

Also, I found this in the third link (about KDE su).

In fact, it is not clear that KDE su really has any important advantage over su, although it might be somewhat more reassuring for persons who are not yet comfortable with command line operations. In fact, this is probably true for the GUI front ends for a number of other command line programs as well.

If one is supposed to use KDE su / kdesudo instead of su / sudo, the author of this document surely mentioned it in that paragraph?

Another thing... the KDE-app.org page says that kdesudo is maintained by the Kubuntu team now. Does that mean kdesudo is not part of the KDE source maintained by the KDE group?

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not being the devil's advocate. I just want to understand the technical reason(s) why KDE su / kdesudo should be used with KDE apps instead of su / sudo.

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

Running Sudo Graphically
gksudo / kdesu vs. sudo - what can be done?

[evans62]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

Administrative mode is not fully implemented in system settings on kde4, as stated on various occasions here.
Install kcontrol and invoke it by doing alt+f2>

kcontrol

I have installed kcontrol but still have no way to do adminstrative tasks (like configuring eth0). I'm dead in the water until someone can walk me thru this. This was a fresh install of 8.04 and KDE4. What else do I need to install to get up and running?

[dibl]

Re: Can't access "Administrative Mode" - Button not visible

I just want to understand the technical reason(s) why KDE su / kdesudo should be used with KDE apps instead of su / sudo.

I guess the technical reason is:

"Because sudo will change the permissions on the hidden .ICEauthority file, in the user's home directory to root only, rendering the user unable to log in the next time."

It has to do with "graphical awareness", I guess. kdesu and gksu are "aware", but sudo is not.