pkexec and what to do??

[rijnsma11111]

Great Operating System MX 23.
But... when I want to give rootrights to start a program with pkexec it does not work like kdesu, gksu or even sudo did.
How do I use it?
I searched the internet but I can't find a simple kdesu, gksu or sudo way. I'm not an expert in Linux although I use it dayly.
At the moment I do sudo for a desktop/panel-icon to start a program in root and then the password via the terminal.
Works, but not a beauty.

[CharlesV]

Please post your QSI. ( MX Menu, Quick System Info, Copy for Forum, past here )

[rijnsma11111]

Please post your QSI. ( MX Menu, Quick System Info, Copy for Forum, past here )

How do I do that please? (I almost never come here, so .. help? )

[MXRobo]

Maybe:

All tools now launch with individual policy kit configurations rather than using the blanket mx-pkexec from past releases. mx-pkexec is not preinstalled.

Whisker Menu (Super Key/Windows Key) type qsi.

[rijnsma11111]

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System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-11-amd64 [6.1.38-4] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-11-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro no
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23_x64 Libretto July 31  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: All Series v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: H81M-K v: Rev X.0x serial: <superuser required> BIOS: American Megatrends
    v: 1003 date: 10/24/2014
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Celeron G1840 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Haswell level: v2 built: 2013-15
    process: Intel 22nm family: 6 model-id: 0x3C (60) stepping: 3 microcode: 0x28
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB
    L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 2 MiB desc: 1x2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1866 high: 1867 min/max: 800/2800 scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 1865 2: 1867 bogomips: 11173
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: disabled, RSB
    filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-7.5 process: Intel 22nm built: 2013 ports: active: VGA-1
    empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0402 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1400x1050 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 370x277mm (14.57x10.91") s-diag: 462mm (18.2")
  Monitor-1: VGA-1 model: Samsung SyncMaster serial: <filter> built: 2006 res: 1400x1050 hz: 60
    dpi: 87 gamma: 1.2 size: 408x300mm (16.06x11.81") diag: 506mm (19.9") ratio: 4:3 modes:
    max: 1400x1050 min: 720x400
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics (HSW GT1) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK 8
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-11-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 status: off with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: off 2: wireplumber
    status: off tools: pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
  Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active tools: pacat,pactl,pavucontrol
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK H81M-C
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter type: USB driver: r8188eu
    bus-ID: 2-5:3 chip-ID: 0bda:8179 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.96 TiB used: 101.51 GiB (5.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 size: 931.51 GiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
    rev: 1A01 scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: HD161HJ size: 149.05 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: N/A serial: <filter> rev: 0-19 scheme: MBR
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 size: 931.51 GiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
    rev: 1A01 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 68.36 GiB size: 66.74 GiB (97.62%) used: 11.29 GiB (16.9%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda6 maj-min: 8:6
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 32.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2315 libs: 1211 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://nl.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 227 Uptime: 5h 41m wakeups: 1 Memory: 7.63 GiB used: 2.8 GiB (36.7%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12 Client: shell wrapper
  v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

[CharlesV]

Probably the simpliest method is to just install pkexec using the MX Package Installer

Start MX Package Installer (mxpi ) , then go to the Enabled tab, and in the search box type

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pkexec

You should see three things

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mx-launcher-l10n
pkexec
policykit-1

Check all three, and then also check "Also Install "Recommended" Packages on the lower right of the dialog and then click on install.

[rijnsma11111]

Done. Now it should work?
I do pkexec featherpad for instance.
It asks for a password but it can not start the program. The same as it was.

[Charlie Brown]

pkexec is already installed ootb: /usr/bin/pkexec

Furthermore it took mx-pkexec's place on MX-23.

But.. what are you trying to do exactly? i.e. sudo featherpad or sudo geany works..

You can have a look at "App Finder". You need to run sudo knowingly, not with everything.

i.e. pkexec thunar works, but it opens the root folder , a bit dangerous ...

[rijnsma11111]

I always did kdesu application. Or gksu app.

i.e. sudo featherpad or sudo geany works..

Only via the terminal as far as I can see. Option in properties. That's alright, but no beauty

So, I thought "maybe there's a better way..?"

[Charlie Brown]

gksu is already deprecated. The reason they look ugly is that they're opened with root account's themes. To view with user's themes it's possible to use the -E option however that's also something unwanted, may cause some ownership issues in home folder (ownership to root when it needs to be user).

So, one can login as root once (yes, this is unwanted, too) and do customizations (themes) there (for those software one by one), then logout ...