This is likely related to the KDE4 compatibility fix discussed here:
http://trinity-devel.pearsoncomputing.net/?0::11003

I distinctly remember fixing this at one point for R14.0.0. :-)

(In reply to comment #1)
> This is likely related to the KDE4 compatibility fix discussed here:
> http://trinity-devel.pearsoncomputing.net/?0::11003
> 
> I distinctly remember fixing this at one point for R14.0.0. :-)

I have updated my R14 nightlies on May 08, and it still doesn't work...
-Alexandre

(In reply to comment #1)
> This is likely related to the KDE4 compatibility fix discussed here:
> http://trinity-devel.pearsoncomputing.net/?0::11003
> 
> I distinctly remember fixing this at one point for R14.0.0. :-)

The simple trick to make it work is to replace ''synaptic'' in the shortcut by ''tdesu synaptic'', but it should be worked out to avoid getting questions about it.


-Alexandre

Raising priority.

While investigating this bug I found, that is called tdesu with "-c", but with an empty command. With tdesu this leads to prompt for password, but then is nothing happened => command is empty. With tdesudo this leads to 100% CPU load.

The patches 21cc8cea (tdebase) and 0fd2e545 (tdesudo) solves run with an empty command. However, the core of this bug remains uncorrected. For now.


A separate question is whether the official Debian / Ubuntu package tdelibs should be built with enabled WITH_OLD_XDG_STD or not? See comment 1.

I found the cause of this bug, the patch will finish soon.

There were two problems:

1) In search for binaries during substitude uid was not searched in sbin paths. Synaptic is in /usr/sbin and therefore could not be found.
2) If the binary is not found, was removed from command, but parameters (if any) were then used instead of the command.

Fixed in GIT hash bb36045b (tdelibs)

Hi all, 

Sorry, but I still have this problem, on Ubuntu Saucy with recent R14 nightly build.

-ALexandre

Hi,

I just saw that the bug has been closed, but I still have it, on Ubuntu 14.04 with recent R14 build.

-Alexandre

(In reply to Alex Couture from comment #9)
> Hi,
> 
> I just saw that the bug has been closed, but I still have it, on Ubuntu
> 14.04 with recent R14 build.
> 
> -Alexandre

Confirming here as well.

(In reply to Timothy Pearson from comment #10)
> (In reply to Alex Couture from comment #9)
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I just saw that the bug has been closed, but I still have it, on Ubuntu
> > 14.04 with recent R14 build.
> > 
> > -Alexandre
> 
> Confirming here as well.

OK, this is all technically a bug in the synaptic packaging.  The synaptic package in Debian/Ubuntu contains a /usr/share/applications/synaptic-kde.desktop file that provides a KDE-specific command, bypassing the default text-mode pkexec method of gaining root access.

If I copy the /usr/share/applications/synaptic-kde.desktop file to /usr/share/applications/synaptic-tde.desktop and change each "KDE" string to read "TDE", then edit /usr/share/applications/synaptic.desktop and append ";TDE" to the "NotShowIn=" line, synaptic works as expected after logout/login of the running TDE session.

As TDE is an XDG-recognized desktop, and the synaptic package already contains a hack specific to an XDG-recognized desktop, I think we need to file an upstream bug report against Debian to include this basic fix in the official synaptic package.

xfce and other alternative desktops suffer from the same problem; users typically have to edit /usr/share/applications/synaptic.desktop to prepend gksu.

Tim

Hi,

From what I can see, Synaptic is not the kind of program that is updated very often, if not at all, such as rpm Synaptic in PCLinuxOS.

Is there a way to do a special rule for Synaptic? I understand that it is probably not the best or the most elegant way to do it, but if it can make it work without trouble.

-Alexandre

(In reply to Alex Couture from comment #12)
> Hi,
> 
> From what I can see, Synaptic is not the kind of program that is updated
> very often, if not at all, such as rpm Synaptic in PCLinuxOS.
> 
> Is there a way to do a special rule for Synaptic? I understand that it is
> probably not the best or the most elegant way to do it, but if it can make
> it work without trouble.
> 
> -Alexandre

I'd rather just add a patched Synaptic version to the TDE PPA if it truly changes this infrequently.  I however do not want to do this until the upstream report is filed.

I have reported this bug upstream:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/1379932

I am also working on a synaptic-trinity package for Debian and Ubuntu that should restore functionality without requiring the shipment of a patched synaptic package.

(In reply to Timothy Pearson from comment #14)
> I have reported this bug upstream:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/1379932
> 
> I am also working on a synaptic-trinity package for Debian and Ubuntu that
> should restore functionality without requiring the shipment of a patched
> synaptic package.

I have added a synaptic-trinity package for Debian and Ubuntu; this package merely fixes the desktop files and does not provide any compiled synaptic code (synaptic-trinity depends on synaptic).  This package is installed whenever one of the various TDE metapackages are installed, ensuring most users will never see the problem.

I'm marking this as RESOLVED NOTOURPROBLEM pending resolution of the upstream bug report.

Hi,

I don't know much how the menu content is built when apps are installed, but is it possible that with this kind of solution, the user will see 2 Synaptic menu enties; one that work and one that doesn't? In other words, how does it work to get the non-working Synaptic entry not visible in the menu?

Thank you!
-Alexandre

The synaptic-trinity package diverts the original synaptic.desktop file and replaces it with a version that has the correct NotShowIn line to prevent duplicate entries from appearing.  My tests show that it works fine; only one entry appears and using that entry launches Synaptic via tdesu.