Authentication - Root PW rejected, User PW accepted [SOLVED]

[DocTomJP]

Gentlemen : I hope that I have completed my actions correctly this time. (I feel like a kid reporting on homework to teacher - at 72 yo!)

(1) Output from su -cat, etc

root@debianjessie:/home/doctomjp# su -c 'cat /etc/sudoers'
#
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
#
# Please consider adding local content in /etc/sudoers.d/ instead of
# directly modifying this file.
#
# See the man page for details on how to write a sudoers file.
#
Defaults env_reset
Defaults mail_badpass
Defaults secure_path="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"

# Host alias specification

# User alias specification

# Cmnd alias specification

# User privilege specification
root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

# See sudoers(5) for more information on "#include" directives:

#includedir /etc/sudoers.d

(2) Output from gconftool etc

doctomjp@debianjessie:~$ gconftool-2 --get /apps/gksu/sudo-mode
false

(3) Output from Groups

doctomjp@debianjessie:~$ groups
doctomjp cdrom floppy sudo audio dip video plugdev netdev lpadmin scanner bluetooth

(4) Output from groups doctomjp

doctomjp@debianjessie:~$ groups doctomjp
doctomjp : doctomjp cdrom floppy sudo audio dip video plugdev netdev lpadmin scanner bluetooth

Both the same- as even I expected! I am a member of sudo. I don't know what to make of outputs (1) and (2).

Thanks again for your continued support.

DocTom.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

That all looks fine.

Your user is a member of group "sudo" and everything is set up how it should be.

Cinnamon must use `gksudo` rather than `gksu` to run GUIs with superuser permissions.

Basically, your system is functioning as it should.

[DocTomJP]

Many thanks - but Synaptic, and others, when they ask for authentication, give a failure when I use the root password, but open OK when I input the password for my username, which is where I was at the start. Is that as it should be ?
DcTom.

[GarryRicketson]

but open OK when I input the password for my username, which is where I was at the start. Is that as it should be ?

That is the way it should be,you seem to have it set up correct now. The real test will be if it downloads and installs the application you choose.
Be sure you keep "track" of or do not forget the "root" password, some how, if at any time, it does not accept
the password for your username, you can try using the "root" password, I guess sometimes it is not "clear" as to which password it wants,...please don't ask me why it is that way, I don't know, it just is I guess ?
note:
There is something else you may need to do before you can download and install any packages,
That is making sure a file called "sources.list" has the correct sources in it.
You can get some details on that here:
https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList
If you have any trouble, understanding it, let us know. That would be a different topic though.
Try installing the apt you want first, then we can take it from there.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Is that as it should be ?

Yes, I think so.

I don't use Cinnamon but it seems to be set up to use `gksudo` (which asks for the user password, if the logged in user is in the "sudo" group) rather than `gksu` (which is configured to ask for the root password in your system) to open graphical programs with root permissions.

Try these commands:

This will ask for the root password:

Code: Select all

gksu synaptic

This will ask for your normal user's password:

Code: Select all

gksudo synaptic

The menus in Cinnamon seem to be configured to use the second method rather than the first (if the logged in user is not in the "sudo" group, `gksudo` will ask for the root password instead).

[DocTomJP]

Gentlemen : progress!

The gksu and gksudo commands did exactly you said H-O-A-S, so I guess all is in order as you both have indicated.

As you suggest Gary, I will now try to get an app using Synaptic, and I am sure, from what you said and from my earlier readings, that I need to access more repos (I want Keepass2 as the first item), so I will get to work.

(Incidentally, it is a real pleasure to be able to have two workspaces open - one to do this message, and the other to do the Synaptic tests - what an improvement over Win 7! I think that I am going to enjoy Debian.)

My sincere thanks once again to you both.

DocTom.

[DocTomJP]

Gentlemen :

After some struggles, I managed to add repos to the sources list, and subsequently I successfully installed Keepass2 using Synaptic. Great success!

So all appears to be well, at least until I perpetrate the next blunder.

It remains to express my gratitude for all your help. Your knowledge and willingness to spend time to assist newcomers like me is very impressive.

Thanks again,

DocTom.

[GarryRicketson]

Well thank you too, just one last request, on your part,
On your first post, the one you made when you started it, up in the right hand corner, there
are some options, one is to "edit", select that and then edit the "subject"line: " Authentication - Root PW rejected, User PW accepted", add the (Solved) to it. This helps others if they search on the same problem or similar, they can look through the thread and perhaps learn something.
Glad to see it is working for you now.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I managed to add repos to the sources list

Errr... Which repositories did you add?

Be sure to read the bottom link in my signature.

[DocTomJP]

H-O-A-S

After searching long for an index as to what is in the various repositories, I found the ones that seemed to contain the apps that I want, at least initially. (Keepass2 was the priority.)

So I added jessie main, jessie-backports main, and stable main. All the reading that I did before proceding indicated that adding these would not be a problem. As I said, I have since downloaded Keepass2, and got it working ok with the database that I added from my Win 7 version, via a usb drive.

I hope that I have not perpetrated another error in adding those repos.

Please tell me if this is not the place to ask, but I am stuck trying to add some fonts. I downloaded LinuxLibertine using Synaptic, and I see it there (with others that I did not know were supplied at installation) in the .. /user/share/fonts file. But the Cinnamon fonts setting does not see any of these, and there seems to be no way to get them into Cinnamon. However, in the Debian fonts file there is a grey icon called fontsfile (crossed) that results in this message when I double click..... " The Link fontsfile is broken" and it invites me to move it to trash. Maybe this is the problem?

If the fonts issue is out of order for this post, please tell me, and I will try further to resolve it, and if necessary open a new post.

I had read the DontBreakDebian instructions previously, and most are easy and obvious (to me) to follow. The difficult one is to avoid bad advice - to someone like me who knows so little, any advice from web sources, etc, has the appearance of authority. My only tactic is to read many sources and look for a common theme.

Thanks once again!

DocTom.

[dilberts_left_nut]

Currently, both of your source lines , jessie and stable, point to the same repo (which is an unnecessary duplicate).
When the next stable is released (~2 years ish) you 'stable' line will suddenly be pointing to 'stretch' resulting in a "surprise upgrade" which usually goes badly unless you are prepared.
In most cases using the release name (jessie etc.) is preferable to the branch name (stable etc.) in your sources.list to avoid ambiguity and oopses in long lived systems.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

The difficult one is to avoid bad advice - to someone like me who knows so little, any advice from web sources, etc, has the appearance of authority.

Ask here before trying anything -- these forums are peer-reviewed so bad advice is quickly corrected whereas random blog guides can be written by anybody and have no quality control whatsoever.

Also, see the link in my signature for the Debian Reference (this is official documentation and is utterly superb) and when searching for answers, go to https://startpage.com/ and enter "<subject> debian wiki" in the search box (the built-in search engine for the Debian wiki is terrible).

For example: https://wiki.debian.org/Fonts is top of the list if "fonts debian wiki" is entered

Start a new thread for your fonts problem if you can't figure it out.

[DocTomJP]

OK. Many thanks to all helpers!
DocTom.