Catfish file search - updating data base asking for authentication as superuser

[JanetBiggar]

That'd be gksu working. Gksu is  a graphical frontend for sudo that allows graphical command to be run without the need to run an X terminal emulator and using su directly. It's effectively just a GTK+ skin for the superuser commands. Try this so you see for yourself; press alt+f2 which will launch app finder tool, type sudo thunar and click on run, then type gksu thunar and click on run, what did happen in both cases?

So I did the above.  When I did alt & F2 then put in sudo thunar then clicked the gear icon, nothing happened.  The wlndow disappeared and nothing occurred.  When I did alt & F2 and put in gksu thunar, clicked on the gear then another window popped up asking for my pw which I put in and then it took me into the area (warning me that I was in or running as root).

So what does this mean with respect to "IF" I do wish to update the catfish data base, what must I do/type?

[jerryc]

So what does this mean with respect to "IF" I do wish to update the catfish data base, what must I do/type?

I'd be fine with:

Code:

gksu catfish

I like the alt + f2 combo, too. Never used it before, always just launched a terminal. Thanks, Moltke.

[trinidad]

Gksu is deprecated for a reason. Running an application's graphical user interfaces in root can introduce its bugs into the root file system, and security issues along the same X channels. In fact an application's graphical user interface display should never be run in root because of this issue. Forget about catfish and try these CLI tools. You don't need the catfish interface for the simple searching you are doing. These may or may not be already installed in your default LL system. Try the commands first before you attempt to install the tools.

https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/linu...-terminal/

TC

[Moltke]

[member=7067]JanetBiggar[/member] Are you having this issue in LL 4.6? I checked those screenshots you shared and noticed that in one of them reads that the database was last updated 03/29/2017 which is more than two years ago, so that might be the reason you're getting that weird message. 

[JanetBiggar]

To answer your question Moltke I have only put LL3.8 on these laptops. While I am starting to get some “newer” (I use that term loosely!) laptops many of them are sufficiently old and thus lack the RAM and HD size that would work best with the 4 series. I also love systemback and use that enough when/if I run into issues.

I think I will choose to let sleeping dogs lie since the search function works despite not updating.

[jerryc]

I checked those screenshots you shared and noticed that in one of them reads that the database ...

Here's another workaround I'd be comfortable with. Change the permissions on the db with:

Code:

sudo chmod 666 /var/lib/nlocate/mlocate.db

Then run catfish, and it should update without needing the admin pw.

I wouldn't even worry about changing it back, since it's only data, but if you were concerned, after the update you could run:

Code:

sudo chmod 644 /var/lib/nlocate/mlocate.db

As far as running gui programs as root, like doing anything as root, caution is always advisable. That said, I've been doing it selectively for years with stable programs like thunar and gedit, without issue, foresee none, and currently have no intention of stopping.

[trinidad]

I've been doing it selectively for years with stable programs like thunar and gedit, without issue, foresee none

Those days are coming to an end, and there are several important reasons why, and it is not good advice to encourage new users toward a praxis that involves purposely deprecated software like gksu. It's about like recommending Windows XP over Windows 10. The often referenced mission statement for Linux Lite is to create a Linux software environment that new users coming from Windows can easily transition to. It's certainly counter intuitive here to encourage the inexperienced Linux user to use bad or deprecated tools. Go argue about it on the Deb channels: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=144101 but please not here, where the new inexperienced user is the most important.

TC

[jerryc]

it is not good advice to encourage new users toward a praxis that involves purposely deprecated software like gksu.

I don't used gksu. I use sudo.

[Moltke]

I've been doing it selectively for years with stable programs like thunar and gedit, without issue, foresee none

Those days are coming to an end, and there are several important reasons why, and it is not good advice to encourage new users toward a praxis that involves purposely deprecated software like gksu. It's about like recommending Windows XP over Windows 10. The often referenced mission statement for Linux Lite is to create a Linux software environment that new users coming from Windows can easily transition to. It's certainly counter intuitive here to encourage the inexperienced Linux user to use bad or deprecated tools. Go argue about it on the Deb channels: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=144101 but please not here, where the new inexperienced user is the most important.

TC

I wasn't aware gksu is now deprecated. A web search showed some results and we're suppose to use pkexec or something like gedit admin:///etc/default/apport according to this article https://itsfoss.com/gksu-replacement-ubuntu/ I tried the latter and I got a blank file. I did via the app finder/launcher tool with alt+f2, same result via terminal. The pkexec approach didn't work either with the app finder/launcher tool, when tried in the terminal got this error

Code:

polkit-agent-helper-1: pam_authenticate failed: Authentication failure
==== AUTHENTICATION FAILED ===
Error executing command as another user: Not authorized

And yes, I'm 100% sure I typed in the right password. So I guess will continue to use gksu or sudo, I do have the option in the right-click menu to open thunar as root as well as the terminal though. Why do they change the questions when we already know the answers?  8)