Arch Linux

sakya

Member

Registered: 2021-09-26

Posts: 9

[SOLVED] Cannot change gedit options as root

If I run gedit as root with

sudo gedit

I'm unable to change settings (like the color profile).
In the terminal I get the error

failed to commit changes to dconf: Error spawning command line “dbus-launch --autolaunch=3f67c676947b4093a67081e66ce01682 --binary-syntax --close-stderr”: Child process exited with code 1

Last edited by sakya (2021-11-28 10:52:23)

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot change gedit options as root

That's because you shouldn't be using sudo to run GUI applications in the first place.

---

No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,732

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot change gedit options as root

To edit files as root use the GVFS admin:// backend:

gedit admin:///full/path/to/file

EDIT: or

SUDO_EDITOR=gedit sudoedit /full/path/to/file

Set the SUDO_EDITOR variable globally if you always want to use gedit.

EDIT2: and for bonus points here's a root-editor.desktop file to allow use from a menu or file manager:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Sudoeditor
Comment=Edit text files as root
Exec=rootedit %U
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
MimeType=text/plain;
Icon=org.gnome.gedit
Categories=GNOME;GTK;Utility;TextEditor;

^ Place that file in /usr/local/share/applications/ (for system-wide use) or ~/.local/share/applications (for just your user).

And this is the rootedit script:

#!/bin/sh
SUDO_EDITOR=gedit sudoedit "$@"

^ Make that executable and place it under /usr/local/bin/ (or in ~/bin/).

Once they are in place select "Sudoeditor" as the application from the file manager

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2021-11-28 10:45:57)

---

Are you infected with Wetiko?

sakya

Member

Registered: 2021-09-26

Posts: 9

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot change gedit options as root

To edit files as root use the GVFS admin:// backend:

gedit admin:///full/path/to/file

Many thanks, easy solution