Lost Admin Privileges

[Funkygoby]

Brutal powering off means that filesystems couldn't be unmounted and files may have been damaged.

One thing that I like to try when something is broken is to create a second fresh user to see if the problem is persistent.
If it isn't, then the problem is related to your user. Check your related config file in $HOME or purge them and start fresh.
If it is then the problem is system-wide.

That being said, your graphical shutdown/suspend/etc and sudo are not related.
Do you actually have a problem with sudo ?

Your graphical shutdown/suspend/etc being greyed out might be a problem with dbus, consolekit2, messagebus. On OpenBSD (yes... yet another OBSD user), you have to use a system-wide d-bus instance to solve this (very well documented). If I am not mistaken, Debian doesn't use them anymore (systemd instead).
This might be a good example as to why Debian folks cannot reliably help Devuan folks now.

[debiman]

I used to be able to launch certain applications that require superuser privileges from the GUI, and now they just won't unless I launch them manually from terminal with sudo (Gparted is one example)

this exact issue has been observed by others also, discussed here on the forums.
something to do with the util-linux package iirc.

[GarryRicketson]

https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetu ... d-question

6. Backup and Data Recovery


6.1 Why do I need Backup?


First, disks die. The rate for well-treated (!) disk is about 5% per
year, which is high enough to worry about. There is some indication
that this may be even worse for some SSDs. This applies both to LUKS
and plain dm-crypt partitions.

Second, for LUKS, if anything damages the LUKS header or the
key-stripe area then decrypting the LUKS device can become
impossible. This is a frequent occurrence. For example an
accidental format as FAT or some software overwriting the first
sector where it suspects a partition boot sector typically makes a
LUKS partition permanently inaccessible. See more below on LUKS
header damage.

So, data-backup in some form is non-optional. For LUKS, you may also
want to store a header backup in some secure location. This only
needs an update if you change passphrases.

The FAQ is very long, but detailed, I strongly suggest /recommend that anyone
using LUKS and cryptsetup, etc. read it, and the other documentation as well.
This should be done, before even deciding if you really want to use it, but in any event, if you do use it, it contains essential information on how to deal with this kind of problem.

Re: Lost Admin Privileges

Postby Funkygoby » 2018-08-01 11:25
Brutal powering off means that filesystems couldn't be unmounted and files may have been damaged.---- snip---

------ snip ------or some software overwriting the first
sector where it suspects a partition boot sector typically makes a
LUKS partition permanently inaccessible.