Hello !
We had this subject discussed a few weeks ago, but as it gets more
precise, here's a short rationale and a patch (attached) for the
desktop-entry-spec.
############################## Purpose #############################
The purpose is to hide, in the menus, programs that require elevated
privileges from non admin users, therefore reducing application clutter.
A side effect would be to allow some distribution maintainers not to
manually prepend, for example, "gksudo" to the "Exec" value for these
entries.
########################### Specification ##########################
The new key is RootRequired=yes|no|optional. It basically specifies
whether the program needs elevated privileges ; if "optional", the
program needs the privileges to fulfill all of its capabilities, but can
still be run and provide useful information if it hasn't.
############### Possible implementation and rationale ##############
Now, apart from the spec, here's the most probable interpretation of
this. A boolean environment variable (USER_IS_ADMIN) could be set, each
distribution using its preferred way (for example, Ubuntu has an "admin"
group) to set it. Then the values of RootRequired would be used as follows :
* "yes" : if USER_IS_ADMIN == 1, display the entry in the menus and use
elevated privileges (eg prepend "gksudo" to the Exec value). Otherwise,
hide the entry from the menus.
* "no" : do nothing (do not hide the entry, do not modify the Exec value).
* "optional" : do not hide the entry. If USER_IS_ADMIN == 1, use
elevated privileges ; otherwise, don't.
* If USER_IS_ADMIN is not set or the RootRequired key doesn't exist in
the entry, assume the value is "no".
Doing this will allow the following :
1) Non-admin users don't see all these programs for which they don't
have the authorization anyway.
2) Elevated privileges are automatically used when needed.
3) Some programs, for example package management tools, can be run
without elevated privileges (eg list installed packages, search for a
particular package), but still need them for more control (eg actually
install new packages). By using the "optional" value, non-admin users
can still perform non-admin actions, while admin users can use the full
capabilities of the program.
That's it :o) The attached patch adds the RootRequired key to the
desktop-entry-spec. Can it be committed ?
Cheers,
Manu Cornet
? desktop_entry_spec_add_root_required_key.patch
Index: ChangeLog
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/menus/desktop-entry-spec/ChangeLog,v
retrieving revision 1.8
diff -r1.8 ChangeLog
0a1,4
> 2005-08-29 Manu Cornet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> * desktop-entry-spec.xml: added the RootRequired key.
>
Index: desktop-entry-spec.xml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/menus/desktop-entry-spec/desktop-entry-spec.xml,v
retrieving revision 1.9
diff -r1.9 desktop-entry-spec.xml
604a605,616
> <row>
> <entry id="key-rootrequired"><varname>RootRequired</varname></entry>
> <entry>
> Specifies whether the program needs elevated privileges (<varname>yes</varname> or
> <varname>no</varname>). If <varname>optional</varname>, the program needs elevated
> privileges for full capacities, but can work and provide useful information without.
> </entry>
> <entry>string</entry>
> <entry>NO</entry>
> <entry>NO</entry>
> <entry>1</entry>
> </row>
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