Can you expand on this idea? My main complaint with what I've
seen from
previous non-OLPC mechanisms is that root/super-user privileges are
required. We can wrap any old CLI in a shiny, pretty, GUI. But it needs to
work in a sane, safe way without passwords for small human beings.
If I'm not mistaken, PackageKit uses PolicyKit.
And PolicyKit can be configured to either:
- ask for the root password each time
- ask for the root password and keep permission for the active session
- ask for the root password and keep permission indefinitely
- same 3 above cases but with the user's own password instead
- always grants permission to the user
- always deny permission to the user
All those possibilities can be configured for a lot of different
actions needing administration permissions, among which is « update my
system » or « install new software ». :-)
You can look at how it works by running the «
/usr/bin/polkit-gnome-authorization » tool on a Gnome desktop.
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Mathieu Bridon (bochecha)