[PATCH 0/2] Autostart polkit-gnome in XFCE

I noticed I couldn't edit NetworkManager settings in XFCE, and it turns it

there is no polkit authentication agent running. Every desktop seems to

have their own one, and XFCE seems to use polkit-gnome. Since it was

abandoned by GNOME it isn't used for anything else. So I setup an autostart

desktop file just like how mate-polkit has one.

It feels a bit odd configuring the package with an embedded desktop file

just for XFCE. Perhaps it would be better to put it in a separate "xfce-autostart"

output or just put it into the xfce package instead of the polkit-gnome package.

What do you think?

so that /polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 will be started on

login. This fixes users not being able to edit NetworkManager settings

due to there not being any polkit authentication agent running.

---

gnu/packages/xfce.scm | 1 +

1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

[inputs]: Source a translated .desktop file from Arch Linux.

[arguments]: Install the .desktop file into /etc/autostart and set

OnlyShowIn to XFCE so it will be autostarted only by XFCE.

[description]: Add a note clarifying that this package is currently only

used for XFCE, not GNOME.

---

gnu/packages/polkit.scm | 39 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----

1 file changed, 35 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

Hi Brendan,

Am Sonntag, den 18.04.2021, 23:17 +1000 schrieb Brendan Tildesley:

Instead of sourcing the desktop file from a really obscure location,

would it be possible to express this in terms of `make-desktop-entry-

file'? This also has the added advantage, that it could be inlined

into the phase.

See above.

Is that so? Even if this holds for GNOME 40, it's not true for Guix'

GNOME until wip-gnome is merged, or does 3.34 already use something

else?

Regards,

Leo

[...]

I did this because the file has many translations, so it would be a lot

of lines: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/archlinux/svntogit-community/packages/polkit-gnome/trunk/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop

I was just trying to source it so translations weren't duplicated.

[...]

It's much older than that. I think it was used for Gnome 2 and long since

discarded. The release is years old and the repo untouched for 3 years.

On second thought perhaps another option is just to use the MATE polkit

agent instead? I tested it for changing network manager and it worked

just the same, only the GUI looks slightly different. I was searching

What do you think?

Hi,

Am Sonntag, den 18.04.2021, 17:15 +0200 schrieb Brendan Tildesley:

I still think we'd prefer to keep our own copy. If not as code, then

perhaps as aux-file?

Ah, thanks for clearing that up.

If it works for XFCE, why not? Given that polkit-gnome has no

dependents other than itself, should we perhaps also look into removing

it?

Regards,

Leo

[...]

One issue is that mate-polkit's .desktop file has the line OnlyShowIn=MATE;

This prevents it from being launched in any other desktop. When multiple

desktops are installed all these files sit in /run/current-desktop/profile/etc/

and rely these lines to make them not appear in other desktops.

I made a couple patches [attached] that adds XFCE to the the .desktop's OnlyShowIn.

It's a little ugly though.

Hi Brendan,

Am Montag, den 19.04.2021, 08:56 +0200 schrieb Brendan Tildesley:

This may potentially be bikeshedding, but what about defining a

(potentially hidden) package, that inherits from mate-polkit (call it

mate-polkit-for-xfce) and installs a .desktop file, that replaces MATE

with XFCE? Ah, well, you'd also have to move the desktop file to a

different location for there not to be a name clash.

Other than that, the contents of your patches LGTM, but the ChangeLog

is on a pretty verbose end. For instance, the message for 0001 should

likely be rewritten as:

----

gnu: polkit-mate: Enable autostarting in XFCE.

Add XFCE to the OnlyShowIn field of the autostart .desktop file so it

will be started by XFCE as well. This is for the same of making

polkit-mate the de facto polkit agent for XFCE in Guix, since XFCE does

not ship its own.

A potential downside might be, that this desktop file ends up in the

current system profile and can therefore be seen in XFCE

configurations, that did not ask for it.

for-xfce'.

----

You could also write significantly shorter commit messages, since

"Enable autostarting in XFCE" already tells you everything the patch

does.

Regards, Leo

I think it's good to think about. This way makes it more self contained.

Yeah I suck at commit messages. I've attached new patches doing it this way

and confirmed it worked in a VM.

Hi Brendan,

Am Montag, den 19.04.2021, 13:02 +0200 schrieb Brendan Tildesley:

Scheme doesn't have symbols, it has variables.

That's a pretty large package description for something rather trivial.

Would the following work instead?

(package/inherit mate-polkit

(arguments

`(#:phases

(modify-phases %standard-phases

(add-after 'unpack 'patch-desktop-for-xfce

(lambda _

(substitute* "src/polkit-mate-authentication-agent-

1.desktop.in.in"

(("MATE;") "XFCE;"))))))))

Regards,

Leo

Uhh ok it's simpler source code but now we're building it twice,

potentially having two copies of it and the .desktop file will have

the same filename and thus conflict if both desktops are installed.

Am Montag, den 19.04.2021, 13:26 +0200 schrieb Brendan Tildesley:

Oh, right, I was missing the part, in which we rename it.

W.r.t. "building it twice", that's only if you have both mate-polkit

and the new one in your profile, in which case I guess it would be

tolerable. If you're using just MATE or just XFCE you'll build one or

the other.

FWIW, there is also xfce-polkit [1], but it was last updated 2020 with

the latest release in 2018 (which is still more recent than 2011,

though). WDYT?

[1] https://github.com/ncopa/xfce-polkit

Yeah I saw these but there is next to zero information on them.

I packaged it and it seems worse. It doesn't even have OK/Cancel buttons

for mouse operation in the password entry dialogue. It uses libxfce4ui

and has "xfce" in the name but otherwise doesn't seem any more or less

suitable for xfce than other agents.

At this point I just want to pick one and get it done with. If you like

I can make mate-polkit like your suggestion but rename the desktop file

so it doesn't conflict.

Debian's package says this on gnome-polkit:

"This implementation was originally designed for GNOME 2, but most GNOME-based desktop environments, including GNOME 3, GNOME Flashback, and MATE, have their own built-in PolicyKit agents and no longer use this one. The remaining users of this implementation are Cinnamon, XFCE and Unity. "

Hi,

Am Montag, den 19.04.2021, 15:30 +0200 schrieb Brendan Tildesley:

Fair enough, so it's either gnome or mate for XFCE.

It's your choice, what you want to implement:

1. gnome-polkit with an added desktop file (but please use an aux file

or make-desktop-file-entry instead of an origin pointing into the

aether)

2. mate-polkit-for-xfce with the renamed desktop file.

3. something completely else

I know that waiting long for your patch to be upstreamed can be

frustrating, but I'm not here to tease you; rather I want to ensure,

that whatever you do ends up not as a quick and dirty fix, but a proper

package.

Hmm, in that case keeping gnome-polkit around longer might be desirable

if people want to port Cinnamon or Unity. What does Debian's desktop

file look like and could we port it over?

Regards,

Leo

[...]

I made a patch for mate-polkit-for-xfce.

It has OnlyShowIn=XFCE;Unity;X-Cinnamon;

It also applies four patches of course

0001-Select-the-current-user-to-authenticate-with-by-defa.patch

0002-Auth-dialog-Make-the-label-wrap-at-70-chars.patch

0003-Get-user-icon-from-accountsservice-instead-of-lookin.patch

0004-Use-fresh-X11-timestamps-when-displaying-authenticat.patch

Hi,

Am Mittwoch, den 21.04.2021, 07:31 +0200 schrieb Brendan Tildesley:

Thanks. I've pushed them with some slight changes.

That still looks reasonable imo. If at some point you're dissatisfied

with MATE's polkit agent, feel free to package it.

Regards,

Leo