Scheduled Maintenance: We are aware of an issue with Google, AOL, and Yahoo services as email providers which are blocking new registrations. We are trying to fix the issue and we have several internal and external support tickets in process to resolve the issue. Please see: viewtopic.php?t=158230

 

 

 

no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
Message
Author
dblake2
Posts: 77
Joined: 2008-10-09 01:42

no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#1 Post by dblake2 »

i upgraded from debian 9 to 10 & now get error msg when try to run root terminal, ie:
"failed to run /usr/bin/xterminal emulator as user root"
"unable to copy the users Xauthorization file"
i am in the sudoers list.
any ideas/hints?

L_V
Posts: 1477
Joined: 2007-03-19 09:04
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#2 Post by L_V »

Open a terminal, as user, and launch this

Code: Select all

sudo su
any problem ?

dblake2
Posts: 77
Joined: 2008-10-09 01:42

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#3 Post by dblake2 »

i get the normal prompt for user pw & am able to log on as root.
if i then try & open a root terminal it fails & i get the same error msg.

Segfault
Posts: 993
Joined: 2005-09-24 12:24
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#4 Post by Segfault »

L_V wrote:Open a terminal, as user, and launch this

Code: Select all

sudo su
any problem ?
Bad command, use 'sudo -i' when you want to become root.

dblake2
Posts: 77
Joined: 2008-10-09 01:42

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#5 Post by dblake2 »

ill try sudo -i but thats not the problem.
the root terminal icon itself is unusable. normally it just asks for the root pw & your off & running
this one gives the error msg- maybe i have to configure the root terminal itself?
i have deb 9 on this computer, on another partition, (used to be deb 8) & it works normally-haven't run into this b4.

L_V
Posts: 1477
Joined: 2007-03-19 09:04
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#6 Post by L_V »

Segfault wrote:Bad command, use 'sudo -i' when you want to become root.
What ? What ? Always used 'sudo su' for years without any problem. If you don't explain why you think it is "bad", I miss the point.

'sudo su' - it is a login shell, so /etc/profile, .profile and .bashrc are executed and you will find yourself in root's home directory with root's environment.

'sudo -i' - It is nearly the same as sudo su - The -i (simulate initial login) option runs the shell specified by the password database entry of the target user as a login shell. This means that login-specific resource files such as .profile, .bashrc or .login will be read and executed by the shell.

Then 'sudo su' is really not the point.
dblake2 wrote:ill try sudo -i but thats not the problem.
the root terminal icon itself is unusable..
This is totally unclear.
You open a terminal as user.
You type 'sudo su' or 'sudo -i' for those you prefer for some reason, or "su -" if not a sudoers.
Absolutely no icon will change anywhere.
Just the prompt will change because you enter a root session.

You then make something wrong somewhere, or something you should not do anymore.
Last edited by L_V on 2019-08-01 06:30, edited 1 time in total.

Dai_trying
Posts: 1100
Joined: 2016-01-07 12:25
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 16 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#7 Post by Dai_trying »

I think you should look at the properties of the .desktop file for the "root terminal" icon, I think some desktops might offer this but not one that I am currently using so I cannot check myself, what desktop are you using?

Segfault
Posts: 993
Joined: 2005-09-24 12:24
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#8 Post by Segfault »

What ? What ? Always used 'sudo su' for years without any problem.
First, this command comes from noobs who share their "knowledge" on the net. From people who neglect to read manuals.
So what does 'sudo su' do. It runs root shell in your home directory. Educated people use "sudo -s" in case they want root shell in users home. However, root shell in users home is bad habit. It can overwrite user [config] files and render them unwritable for user. Depends of course on what you are doing. People who run 'sudo su' clearly do not know what they are doing.
I knew someone who drove drunk every day over decades "without any problem". Then one day it ended in tears. The argument "I've done it and nothing happened" is the most idiotic argument ever.

L_V
Posts: 1477
Joined: 2007-03-19 09:04
Been thanked: 11 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#9 Post by L_V »

@Segfault
You should open a dedicated thread to explain in detail why you think that "su" is so less dangerous than "sudo su".
Or if su", or "sudo su" are dangerous, and yes there are, or course, how do you pass an administration command like tune2fs for example.
Keep in mind there is a tremendous difference between one guy managing his laptotp, and a server connected to 200 users.

And this is absolutely not the point of dblake2 here.

dblake2
Posts: 77
Joined: 2008-10-09 01:42

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#10 Post by dblake2 »

not to interrupt the argument but i got around the problem by logging in with xfce desktop rather than gnome.
now that i think about it i recall having problems with root & gnome b4.
gnome seems especially picky about root logins/usage.
i might look into it later-if there's a root term on the menu it should be usable-setting is wrong somewhere.
i did note the xfce 'root terminal' on the system menu logs in with reg user pw though.

cuckooflew
Posts: 677
Joined: 2018-05-10 19:34
Location: Some where out west
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#11 Post by cuckooflew »

I noticed that in your first post, it was clear you could not open the terminal, and kind of figured it was Gnome all though you had not told anyone, good to see it works ok with Xfce,
I don't know what to say about fixing Gnome, have never used it myself, and my grandfather hated it , so he never installed it on any of the computers in our home.
As far as the suggestion about using

Code: Select all

sudo su
that is just silly, I think the person that suggested that must have just been kidding with you, I mean if you think about it , sudo gives you root privledges, as a user,in your username,..'su' is used to login as root, any user that has the root password can become root, either way, the objective is to get root privlidges, so what is the point in repeating the command, ? I am not very advanced myself, and do not have much experience , but I can not understand what someone thinks they would gain by using 'sudo su' either command is fine, but no need to use both. Now on Debian 10 'su -' is needed, and you need to 'cd' to the directory you want to work in.
You need to be carefull on forums, there are a lot of clowns that will tell you anything,and often no one notices, it is a good practice to read the manual as well, and confirm if the command and options shown are really what you want to do. Using 'sudo su' is not dangerous, it wont hurt anything, but it is just silly . Any way, this morning I was looking for more about the problem on Gnome, and saw a few bug reports, but on Ubuntu, you might find some more information if you look for it.
Please Read What we expect you have already Done
Search Engines know a lot, and
"If God had wanted computers to work all the time, He wouldn't have invented RESET buttons"
and
Just say NO to help vampires!

dblake2
Posts: 77
Joined: 2008-10-09 01:42

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#12 Post by dblake2 »

yeah, i agree with your grandfather.
this was an upgrade from deb9 & both gnome & xfce carried over. thankfully xfce is the default.
i did find out how to login to a session with gnome,by googling, but that didn't affect the original problem with the root terminal if i'm logged in as reg user.
back to google, i guess.

Dai_trying
Posts: 1100
Joined: 2016-01-07 12:25
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 16 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#13 Post by Dai_trying »

Did you have a look to see how the root terminal is being launched by the "root terminal icon"?
It should have a .desktop file with a command in the "Exec" line.

User avatar
Head_on_a_Stick
Posts: 14114
Joined: 2014-06-01 17:46
Location: London, England
Has thanked: 81 times
Been thanked: 132 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#14 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

dblake2 wrote:gnome seems especially picky about root logins/usage
The GNOME desktop in buster uses Wayland by default and that will not allow GUI applications to run as root, which is entirely sane behaviour and should be regarded as a feature rather than a bug.

If you are foolish enough to want to run the entire terminal emulator as root rather than just the shell then use the X-based GNOME session instead.
cuckooflew wrote:Using 'sudo su' is not dangerous, it wont hurt anything, but it is just silly
+1
deadbang

dblake2
Posts: 77
Joined: 2008-10-09 01:42

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#15 Post by dblake2 »

Are you saying there should be no root terminal icon in buster (monitor icon on activities menu with magenta/purple face that sez 'root terminal')?

after googling .Xauthority & xauth it would be easier to just delete it than try & fix it.

But curious as to what it's doing there in the first place if it's not usable (it is usable in my debian 9 tho I note there's no .Xauthority, instead an .ICEauthority).

I did try creating the missing ~/.Xauthority file with 'touch' & copying 'gksu.desktop' over from debian 9 then rebooting but .Xauthority still remained empty-though it did get rid of error msgs & present the usual login box when I tried to run the root terminal-could not enter pw though.
Last edited by dblake2 on 2019-08-04 20:15, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
phenest
Posts: 1702
Joined: 2010-03-09 09:38
Location: The Matrix

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#16 Post by phenest »

I'm not sure how this is a problem for you. I use Gnome, and use Gnome Terminal. If I need root in a terminal, then I use Gnome Terminal and login as root.

If you're looking for a "global" solution that works with every DE... how about switching to a console?
Last edited by phenest on 2019-08-04 20:26, edited 1 time in total.
ASRock H77 Pro4-M i7 3770K - 32GB RAM - Pioneer BDR-209D

User avatar
Head_on_a_Stick
Posts: 14114
Joined: 2014-06-01 17:46
Location: London, England
Has thanked: 81 times
Been thanked: 132 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#17 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

dblake2 wrote:Are you saying there should be no root terminal icon in buster (monitor icon on applications menu with magenta face that sez 'root terminal')?
The menu entry will be there because of a .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/ but it won't work under Wayland.
deadbang

dblake2
Posts: 77
Joined: 2008-10-09 01:42

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#18 Post by dblake2 »

it's a problem because it's sitting/available on the menu & it doesn't work.

i'm very aware of sudo in a regular terminal.

User avatar
phenest
Posts: 1702
Joined: 2010-03-09 09:38
Location: The Matrix

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#19 Post by phenest »

Then Head_on_a_Stick has already given you a clue how to fix that.
ASRock H77 Pro4-M i7 3770K - 32GB RAM - Pioneer BDR-209D

djk44883
Posts: 107
Joined: 2010-12-11 13:14
Has thanked: 2 times

Re: no root term after upgrade deb 9-10

#20 Post by djk44883 »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
dblake2 wrote:The GNOME desktop in buster uses Wayland by default and that will not allow GUI applications to run as root, which is entirely sane behaviour and should be regarded as a feature rather than a bug.

If you are foolish enough to want to run the entire terminal emulator as root rather than just the shell then use the X-based GNOME session instead.
It may be, expect in contrast to prior decades when it was... insane? and then a bug? If there's more to it than to protect me from myself, of course, developers know things.

I'm so foolish to execute ' gksudo caja ' (which ever file manager I'm using) to navigate around when configuring system files. It's a double-click to edit files, or check files locked otherwise... foolish insanity :shock: :roll:

Post Reply