opening dolphin as root

[dguerrini]

Hi, I haven't encountered this issue anywhere, so here it is:

I'm using Debian 10 with KDE, and it seems that when I open dolphin in the application launcher I do it as root. It seems so because I cannot open files I just downloaded through firefox or thunderbird (it says the files do not exist, even though they are there) and because I could open a txt file in the root partition (/), modify it and save it with no request for my root password.

If I try to open the downloaded files with konsole, as user, it does it normally.

Does anyone know how this came to be, and how I can change this to opening dolphin as user as it should be?

thanks in advance.

[sunrat]

Dolphin doesn't normally run as root and it requires some configuration with pkexec to get it to run as such. Only you could know how this came to be on your system. Even running it as root it should still be able to open files in your home folder.
Check the command and permissions in the launcher for Dolphin. Even if it was to open as root, you should still be asked for a password.
To confirm it is running as root, open KSysGuard and look for Dolphin in the processes tab, it will show user.

I'm not surprised you can't find anything related to this with a web search. It's very strange and first I've heard of anything like it. You're not somehow logged in as root to the desktop GUI are you? That's also rather difficult to achieve.

[peer]

I also usen debina 10 ith KDE.
When I right-click on the starter for Dolphin, choose 'Edit application' and then click on 'permissions' I see that the user is root and the group is root.

In dolphin I can open a textfile with kwrite and edit it. When I want to save it I am asked for a password.
But I cannot copy a file in my root directories.

[dguerrini]

Dolphin doesn't normally run as root and it requires some configuration with pkexec to get it to run as such. Only you could know how this came to be on your system. Even running it as root it should still be able to open files in your home folder.
Check the command and permissions in the launcher for Dolphin. Even if it was to open as root, you should still be asked for a password.
To confirm it is running as root, open KSysGuard and look for Dolphin in the processes tab, it will show user.

I'm not surprised you can't find anything related to this with a web search. It's very strange and first I've heard of anything like it. You're not somehow logged in as root to the desktop GUI are you? That's also rather difficult to achieve.

It is very strange. I now saw in Ksysguard that dolphin is running as user.
When I go to "edit application" in the launcher, it says owner and group are root.
How would I know if I'm logged to desktop GUI as root? Thought of that possibility too...
And no, it never asked for password, only to start the desktop GUI when booting.

[arzgi]

To see if you are root or user, open konsole, and give command

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whoami

Check also your /home permissions, still in konsole

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ls -la /home

[dguerrini]

To see if you are root or user, open konsole, and give command

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whoami

Check also your /home permissions, still in konsole

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ls -la /home

whoami gave user;
ls -la /home gave user for the specific user folder, and root for the rest (lost.found, etc.).

sounds normal, right?

[Segfault]

How about following all written and unwritten rules and the good practice in general and not running any GUI applications as root? When you learn how to drive a car it comes in two parts, driving skills and rules on highways. This is the same for operating a computer. The root account is housekeeping account, user account is for using the computer. You use root account to give your user rights it needs to do the job and then you work as user. I don't remember when I used a GUI app as root last time, probably I did when I was a n00b, but it was 22 years ago. So my recommendation is: instead of trying to figure out how to do it the wrong way learn how to do it the right way. It will be rewarding in long run.

[phenest]

What's the result of:

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id -u

[stevepusser]

The same question was asked here not that long ago. One solution was to install and use the "kde-servicemenu-rootactions" package for MX 19. It will perform a number of actions as root from a normal user's Dolphin, include opening a root Dolphin.

I'll let you practice searching the forum to find the thread. Just search for "rootactions".

[sunrat]

It's not the same question if I understand correctly. In fact I'm not sure I understand at all.
OP's reported issues -
- text files in / can be opened and saved without password
- several downloaded files can not be opened
Now Dolphin doesn't open text files, that requires a text editor. Dolphin also doesn't open downloaded files. It will display them and clicking on them should open in their appropriate application eg. image viewer for images, media player for audio or video files.

The OP original question was

how I can change this to opening dolphin as user as it should be?

We have established that Dolphin is actually running as user.
We can't go any further without more information or a clearer explanation of the perceived issue.

[NFT5]

I suspect that the problem is that the permissions for the launcher show Owner as root and that OP therefore thinks that he's running Dolphin as root. This isn't the case, although I can understand how OP thinks it is. Dolphin opens with only user permissions and requires additional permissions to perform tasks on files/folders that are not in the user's home folder.

KDE is different in that it will allow you to open and change a file but then ask for authorisation by password when that file is saved. Every other desktop I've used won't let you open a file that you don't have permission to open, at all. So, for example, I can open, in Kate, say /etc/fstab by double clicking it in Dolphin, then make changes and it will ask me for a password if I attempt to save those changes. I actually find this quite convenient - no need to drop to the CLI or to open a file manager as root which I'd have to do if I was using, for example, MATE.

Note that, in KDE, root actions are not actually performed as root, but rather with sudo permissions, so can be limited. Again this is, in my opinion, quite a good feature, allowing a user with sudo privileges to perform everyday administrative tasks, but, subject to privileges given, not access things that they shouldn't.

The kde-servicemenu-rootactions package that stevepusser made available works quite well, allowing actions as root and even opening a separate instance of Dolphin as root, should one need that.

[dguerrini]

It's not the same question if I understand correctly. In fact I'm not sure I understand at all.
OP's reported issues -
- text files in / can be opened and saved without password
- several downloaded files can not be opened
Now Dolphin doesn't open text files, that requires a text editor. Dolphin also doesn't open downloaded files. It will display them and clicking on them should open in their appropriate application eg. image viewer for images, media player for audio or video files.

The OP original question was

how I can change this to opening dolphin as user as it should be?

We have established that Dolphin is actually running as user.
We can't go any further without more information or a clearer explanation of the perceived issue.

Well, at least someone tried to understand the whole thing without talking nonsense. I don't want to open dolphin as root. It seemed to me it was doing so. I know dolphin is not a text-file opener, it only shows me stuff and permits me to navigate through stuff .

The course of action is: I save a file.odt from firefox or thunderbird. I open dolphin. I go to the folder where the file.odt was saved. I try to open the file.odt with libreoffice. It starts the opening process, then it crashes and says: file.odt does not exit. BUT!!! if I open konsole, and write: libreoffice file.odt, the file opens normally.

Is it anywhere clearer?

[stevepusser]

Oh, I'm sorry I misunderstood your question.

Have you investigated if it's only odt files (templates?) or are other Libreoffice file types also affected? Do text files open normally with your default editor? What happens if you install Calligra and set that to be the default for the Libreoffice file types?