[SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

antarchtic · 2020-11-12 17:44:12

For example,

sudo mousepad

"Failed to initialize xfconf"
I use i3.

What is it about? The wiki doesn't say anything about "xconf"

My .xinitrc
http://sprunge.us/W0aKqt

Last edited by antarchtic (2020-11-12 18:17:52)

Slithery · 2020-11-12 17:47:14

Why are you trying to use sudo to launch graphical applications? It's really not a good idea.

Also why are you using dbus-launch in your ~/.xinitrc?

antarchtic · 2020-11-12 17:58:15

Slithery wrote:

Why are you trying to use sudo to launch graphical applications? It's really not a good idea.
Also why are you using dbus-launch in your ~/.xinitrc?

Just for testing, I use commented "exec i3".
It did not affect to launch applications from sudo anyway...

Why is this a bad idea? I need to to edit some system wide configs from GUI text editor.
... or even just want everything to work correctly
Sometimes I need it.

Last edited by antarchtic (2020-11-12 17:59:06)

Scimmia · 2020-11-12 18:01:27

antarchtic wrote:

Why is this a bad idea? I need to to edit some system wide configs from GUI text editor.
... or even just want everything to work correctly
Sometimes I need it.

I think you should look up the definition of "need"

You never, ever need a GUI text editor to edit system configs.

antarchtic · 2020-11-12 18:10:20

Scimmia wrote:

antarchtic wrote:
Why is this a bad idea? I need to to edit some system wide configs from GUI text editor.
... or even just want everything to work correctly
Sometimes I need it.
I think you should look up the definition of "need"
You never, ever need a GUI text editor to edit system configs.

I like nano but it has no syntax highlighting... Vim is something scary for me.
I think there is nothing wrong with a graphical text editor for convenience

seth · 2020-11-12 18:12:58

Please use sudoedit and export your favorite $EDITOR

Edit: it's a bad idea because GUI applications (and emacs ) tend to be bloated bug collections what makes them very vulnerable.
You want to limit the stuff you run as UID0 as much as possible.

Last edited by seth (2020-11-12 18:15:46)

antarchtic · 2020-11-12 18:16:51

seth wrote:

Please use sudoedit and export your favorite $EDITOR

With variable works fine, thanks again

ewaller · 2020-11-12 19:52:26

Joking aside, emacs does have TRAMP mode to allow the ability to selectively access files with higher privilege. I'm pretty sure it still represents a security issue; as does any editor given permission to do dangerous things. Some editors are more dangerous than others, especially those written without being intended to edit dangerous things.

antarchtic · 2020-11-12 21:28:37

ewaller wrote:

Joking aside, emacs does have TRAMP mode to allow the ability to selectively access files with higher privilege. I'm pretty sure it still represents a security issue; as does any editor given permission to do dangerous things. Some editors are more dangerous than others, especially those written without being intended to edit dangerous things.

This has its own truth, but for the sake of knowledge sometimes I need to break something. Everything is relative)

2ManyDogs · 2020-11-12 23:19:01

antarchtic wrote:

I like nano but it has no syntax highlighting

Not true. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Na … ghlighting

seth · 2020-11-13 06:54:31

Afaiu the TRAMP mode, it's not much different from sudoedit; ie. it operates on a local copy and uses a "remote" protocol (su/do) to upload the file to its original location.
That's perfectly fine and not like running emacs as UID0

…

It's also not very surprising that emacs provides its own access leverage system.
After all it's a pretty decent OS that even runs vim!

Arch Linux

#1 2020-11-12 17:44:12

[SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#2 2020-11-12 17:47:14

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#3 2020-11-12 17:58:15

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#4 2020-11-12 18:01:27

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#5 2020-11-12 18:10:20

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#6 2020-11-12 18:12:58

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#7 2020-11-12 18:16:51

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#8 2020-11-12 19:52:26

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#9 2020-11-12 21:28:37

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#10 2020-11-12 23:19:01

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

#11 2020-11-13 06:54:31

Re: [SOLVED] Can't start some GUI applications from sudo

Board footer