STR #1605: incomprehensible text strings with kdesu

STR #1605

Application:	FLTK Library
Status:	2 - Closed w/o Resolution
Priority:	4 - High, e.g. key functionality not working
Scope:	2 - Specific to an operating system
Subsystem:	Core Library
Summary:	incomprehensible text strings with kdesu
Version:	1.1.7
Created By:	blackmoon
Assigned To:	matt
Fix Version:	None
Update Notification:	Receive EMails Don't Receive EMails

Trouble Report Files:

No files

Trouble Report Comments:

#1	blackmoon 15:23 Feb 15, 2007

If i run a fltk app with "kdesu" (command for run graphical app with root privileges under linux with kde), i'm unable to see te text string in the button label, i see only °°°°°°°°. It work fine if i run it with "sudo" command or "gksu" command on the same sysyem.

#2	greg.ercolano 08:41 Feb 16, 2007

This might not be an FLTK issue; check to see if kdesu is setting some environment variable that is somehow messing up fltk's ability to access fonts. You might try adding a line like: system("printenv > /var/tmp/foo"); in your FLTK program, and compare the contents of /var/tmp/foo when invoked from kdesu vs. sudo, to see if there's any critical variables being set (LOCALE, etc) that is causing the trouble, and if so, possibly modify your app to look for this problem and prevent it. I'm not sure, just chiming in..

#3	blackmoon 05:19 Feb 18, 2007

Hi, i've add the system("printenv > /tmp/env.txt"); line to my app and this is the differences that i've got if i run it with sudo or with kdesu. I don't know if this can help... ------------ sudo printenv ------------ KDE_FULL_SESSION=true HOME=/home/testing _=/usr/bin/sudo SUDO_COMMAND=./test_app ---------------------------------------- ------------ kdesu printenv ------------ KDESU_USER=testing HOME=/root _=/usr/bin/kdesu SUDO_COMMAND=/usr/bin/kdesu_stub - ----------------------------------------

#4	mike 05:35 Feb 18, 2007

kdesu resets the home directory to ~root, which might be picking up different fonts, etc.

#5	greg.ercolano 08:37 Feb 18, 2007

Follow through by doing a test, where you make a script that sets those SUDO variables before invoking your app. Then tell kdesu to invoke the script instead of your app; that way the variables will be set before your app starts running. See if it makes a difference. An example script to do this might look like: ---- snip #!/bin/csh -f setenv KDE_FULL_SESSION true setenv HOME /home/testing setenv _ /usr/bin/sudo setenv SUDO_COMMAND $0 /path/to/test_app $*:q ---- snip

#6	matt 02:16 Feb 19, 2007

Blackmoon, please verify if setting the correct environment variables for X11 to find the fonts will fix this problem. Thanks.

#7	blackmoon 06:27 Feb 19, 2007

I've verified the font paths in xorg and seem to be ok. I've also tried with a live distro, but with the same result.

#8	mike 03:58 Feb 22, 2007

I'm not seeing a problem with kdesu on Fedora Core 6 (which has KDE 3.5.6) - what distro and version of KDE are you using? (FWIW, this is almost certainly a kdesu bug...)

#9	blackmoon 01:52 Feb 23, 2007

I'm using kubuntu edgy (6.10), which has KDE 3.5.5, on amd64 machine.

#10	matt 05:07 Feb 25, 2007

Googleing kubuntu, I seem hundreds of messages about kdesu problems. Did you apply the required post-install patches that fix the "sudo"vs. "su" issue? Did you try to launch FLTK apps directly from the root account? Did they have the correct fonts? Can you start the kcontrol as root and set fonts for the root account correctly there?

#11	blackmoon 08:53 Feb 26, 2007

The post-install patch should be already installad in this version of kubuntu. If i run the application from the root shell with "kdesu" (sudo -s; kdesu ./my-app), i can see the correct fonts in the button label. How can i fix this issue, for run the application without use the root shell, but only the kdesu command from normal user shell? This is a kubuntu bug?

#12	matt 13:24 May 01, 2007

Please contact your Linux distributor for this issue.