Arch Linux

yodermk

Member

Registered: 2012-07-17

Posts: 86

[solved] "PolicyKit1" asks for root password upon launching KDE

So this just started happening in the last 2 or 3 weeks. When I start my system and get into KDE, there's a window claiming to be from PolicyKit1, asking for the root password. If I hit escape or cancel or anything, it just pops right back up.  Likewise if you enter the wrong password.  I did enter the correct password last time, and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have.

Is this legit?  Why did it just start happening?

I understand PolicyKit is part of the system and may need privileges, just don't understand what changed here to make it demand the password on startup.

Thanks!

Last edited by yodermk (2015-08-28 23:44:30)

yodermk

Member

Registered: 2012-07-17

Posts: 86

Re: [solved] "PolicyKit1" asks for root password upon launching KDE

The dialog says the action is "folder watch list".
It lists the polkit-subject-pid which I looked up to have an exe of /usr/bin/baloo_file and polkit.caller_pid, which has an exe of /usr/lib/kauth/kde_baloo_filewatch_raiselimit and is owned by root, so I *guess* it's not malicious.

Still, weird, and can I stop it from popping up?

hoerbert

Member

Registered: 2013-04-03

Posts: 87

Re: [solved] "PolicyKit1" asks for root password upon launching KDE

Hi yodermk,

short explanation, before the solution: baloo (the file-indexing framework of KDE) uses inotify for being notified if a file is changed. But inotify only allows a certain amount of files being watched. If baloo detects, that the current limit is set to low, it brings up this dialog, requests the root-password and rises the watch-limit.

The current limit can be seen with

cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches

To rise this limit manually, place a file named 97-kde-baloo-filewatch-inotify.conf (e.g.) in /etc/sysctl.d/ with the following content:

fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 32768

where "32768" is the limit which you want to set. 32768 or 65536 are common values for this.

Greets,

Torben

Last edited by hoerbert (2015-08-28 12:09:54)

yodermk

Member

Registered: 2012-07-17

Posts: 86

Re: [solved] "PolicyKit1" asks for root password upon launching KDE

Thanks much, that makes sense!

ssri

Member

Registered: 2010-02-16

Posts: 216

Re: [solved] "PolicyKit1" asks for root password upon launching KDE

Thanks for this.  I fixed a similar issue with nepomuk in the same manner.  I forgot that I had to do it with baloo too, so I renamed the old nepomuk file I had in /etc/sysctl.d, upped the limit and viola.  This issue with baloo popped up after unpacking the old AUR mirror.

EDIT: Darn it, the issue came back.  Upping it to something crazy like 81902 froze KDE after startx.  Hrmm...

Last edited by ssri (2015-09-01 18:52:49)

abveritas

Member

Registered: 2012-05-04

Posts: 29

Re: [solved] "PolicyKit1" asks for root password upon launching KDE

Issue is addressed in git (too late for frameworks 5.14.0 I suspect):
https://quickgit.kde.org/?p=baloo.git&a … 1b9bfaf911