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

[jerryc]

When it asks for the update and you can't get your pw to work, you could close it, then, from the command line:

Code:

sudo catfish

The terminal will ask for your pw, but you shouldn't get the pw message from catfish. Hopefully, once you update the db, it won't ask again for a long time, and you can run catfish from your menu and/or panel.

[valtam]

Open Lite User Manager and see how many users are listed in the drop down box. Then see which ones have the sudo box ticked or unticked.

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[jerryc]

Open Lite User Manager and see how many users are listed in the drop down box. Then see which ones have the sudo box ticked or unticked.

Wow! What a great feature. Simple elegance.

[Moltke]

When it asks for the update and you can't get your pw to work, you could close it, then, from the command line:

Code:

sudo catfish

The terminal will ask for your pw, but you shouldn't get the pw message from catfish. Hopefully, once you update the db, it won't ask again for a long time, and you can run catfish from your menu and/or panel.

It's better to use gksu than sudo for GUIs apps, as explained here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

You should never use normal sudo to start graphical applications as root. 
You should use gksudo (kdesudo on Kubuntu) to run such programs. gksudo sets 
HOME=~root, and copies .Xauthority to a tmp directory. This prevents files 
in your home directory becoming owned by root. 
(AFAICT, this is all that's special about the environment of the started 
process with gksudo vs. sudo).

So, instead of

Code:

sudo catfish

you should be using

Code:

gksu catfish

Hope this helps!

[jerryc]

It's better to use gksu than sudo for GUIs apps

The scope of that problem may be far less than originally believed. From: https://beamtic.com/sudo-and-guis

Running graphical programs using sudo in Ubuntu is basically fine – in many cases. However, in some freak cases it might cause problems! However, I have not encountered these myself yet.

That's been my experience. However, I only do it when I'm working on files or directories where I need root permissions, e.g., "sudo gedit" or "sudo thunar" to work with something in /etc. I don't use it, and certainly would not recommend it, for work on files or directories where root permissions are not needed.

My best guess is it would not be a problem using it with catfish, but your note of caution is worth exploring further.

Here's another thought: Let's use synaptic as an example. Most of us open synaptic from the menu, then get a popup asking for our root pw. If, instead, we used a terminal and called it with "sudo synaptic," other than not getting the popup asking for the root pw, would it operate any differently? I doubt it. I'm guessing the same would be true with catfish asking for the root pw.

All that said, I'm simply speculating based on my experience and assumptions, but I've never looked at these things under their hoods.

[JanetBiggar]

Open Lite User Manager and see how many users are listed in the drop down box. Then see which ones have the sudo box ticked or unticked.

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So I did this and the only user(s) are; Administrator which has the sudo box checked and root.

Because I don't wish to get in over my head (sounds like perhaps I might get into trouble if I do sudo catfish or gksu catfish...) AND the file search works fine when I simply "x" the 'Do you want to update the database' I think I will not do anything unless I find out that I won't/can't get myself into hot water!

[valtam]

Does Install Updates work when you enter your password?

[Moltke]

Here's another thought: Let's use synaptic as an example. Most of us open synaptic from the menu, then get a popup asking for our root pw. If, instead, we used a terminal and called it with "sudo synaptic," other than not getting the popup asking for the root pw, would it operate any differently? I doubt it. I'm guessing the same would be true with catfish asking for the root pw.

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?

[supergamer]

I had ran into issues similar once before while building and it turned out to be a permission issue of not having read access to the files. I am betting the user account does not have proper permissions to search certain areas and that is why the splash screen keeps coming up.

[JanetBiggar]

Does Install Updates work when you enter your password?

Yes, it has in the past with no issue. 

I say "in the past" because I switched over to using "Update Manager" such that I could avoid updating items that might cause a glitch on these laptops. I ran into an issue twice (once each on two laptops) whereby the laptops started to act oddly which was after doing "install updates".  I simply reverted an earlier system back point and all was fine.  After that I have been sticking to updating only the 1-3 level updates and avoiding the 4 & 5's.