Description of problem: grsync works normally up to launching rsync, including saving any configuration changes made. (That is, up to pressing the test or run button.) When launching rsync, it aborts the process with : "Error creating textual authentication agent: Error opening current controlling terminal for the process (`/dev/tty'): No such device or address Rsync process exit status: 127" Note that "/dev/tty" does exist, as it should. However, the rsync command generated by grsync works perfectly if copy/pasted into a terminal. (Must use root privileges if that is required by the rsync command, of course.) How reproducible: Just run grsync. Occurs every time. This problem did not occur before the last update in February, although it is possible that I skipped an update. Not sure when I installed the update. Classifying as "critical", as a typical user will not likely think of the workaround, and it is totally non-functional without. Reproducible: Steps to Reproduce:
Assignee: bugsquad => jani.valimaa
Can't reproduce this. Could you try with another and/or fresh user? Which DE are you using?
Hi, I tried with a fresh user, and it *seemed* to work, until I checked the "superuser" option, which I always use for my backups with grsync. (Since even on my account there are some files with root or other owners.) I get exactly the same error message (with "run as superuser" checked). So apparently it is a problem with authentication. I would suspect it is somehow related to systemd changes, but that is only a wild guess. I vaguely remember comments on the dev list a while back about changes related to authentication. (by TV, I think.) Anyway, that coincides with the rsync output of grsync working in a terminal with root privileges. I'm using the gnome classic desktop, with a customized menu bar, and thunar for files, but I don't think that is related. (In passing, I had forgotten how dramatically different the default gnome3 theme was from gnome2. At first I couldn't even find the menu. It was like I was running and over-sized tablet.)
If I enable 'Run as superuser' option grsync launches rsync via pkexec. Do you have polkit and polkit-agent installed?
I have polkit (containing pkexec), polkit-gnome, and lib64polkit1_0 installed (all 64bit). The last containing libpolkit-agent-1.so.0 . But this doesn't seem to be the problem. The command line generated by grsync starts with pkexec. It is displayed just before the error message, which indicates an authentication error. It is this command line that executes correctly in a terminal (with root privileges). The terminal is opened using gksu for authentification, which has never caused any problems. So there is some problem with how grsync is now doing it. I have periodically removed (most but not all) reported orphans. Maybe there is a missing dependency somewhere ? (I don't have any record of orphans removed before grsync stopped working.) Running grsync (with superuser mode checked) in test mode, in a non-root terminal : 1) the password prompt is displayed (but password is not accepted) "==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.policykit.exec === Authentication is needed to run `/usr/bin/rsync' as the super user Authenticating as: root Password: " The first line is in red. 2) Simultaneously, in graphic mode, it displays as before : "****{name-of-session} ** Launching RSYNC command (simulation mode): pkexec rsync ..." 3) This is followed by progress window, which freezes, with the progress indicators staying at 0% instead of constantly changing. (This differs from running only in graphic mode, where the progress window appears immediately with an error message.) 4) If I can abort (with the "stop" button), it displays the error message : "polkit-agent-helper-1: pam_authenticate failed: Application needs to call libpam again Rsync process exit status: 0" Often it doesn't let me abort, and I have to kill grsync with a task manager. In graphic mode, it displays the error message (as in initial post) instead of asking for the password. (Both tried a few minutes apart.) Somewhat bizarre : when I exit grsync, the gnome-terminal window no longer prints newline when I press return, just advancing on the same line. Opening another tab works ok. If no-one else sees this, I suspect it is just a glitch on my system, or a missing dependency not easily found. I've been planning to upgrade as soon as 4.1 is out (now), so I think I'll just upgrade and report if error still occurs in mga4.
Just did a backup copying the output of grsync to an ordinary (non-root) gnome-terminal. 5 runs (for 5 different partitions). Normal password entry each time (for a terminal), and all the pkexec rsync ... commands generated by grsync ran normally in the terminal. So the problem is with how grsync interfaces for authentication. Maybe TV could help, as a while back we encountered a similar issue (not related to grsync), and there was something in the development applications he had installed that changed how authentication worked. (He had fewer limitations.) It could still be related to some missing requires as well. I'll test grsync again after I update with mga4.1 (from mga3).
Check also you have /usr/libexec/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 running. It should start automatically on session startup. Polkit-agents provides a GUI for polkit which is needed for authenticating. If there's no agent running, authentication bit doesn't work and you get errors like yours. You could also try with lxpolkit. Install it, remove polkit-gnome and reboot/relogin to get /usr/libexec/lxpolkit running.
(In reply to Jani Välimaa from comment #6) > Check also you have /usr/libexec/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 > running. It should start automatically on session startup. Polkit-agents > provides a GUI for polkit which is needed for authenticating. If there's no > agent running, authentication bit doesn't work and you get errors like yours. maybe, but then as well as the "pkexec rsync ..." generated by grsync running ok in an ordinary (non-root) terminal, I still got the same normal prompt for root password every time I ran rpmdrake. While trying to troubleshoot the problem, I often alternated between testing grsync and starting rpmdrake (supplying the root password in the same popup window). In any case, I upgraded to mga4 using the 4.1 classic dvd. When I eventually tried grsync, it worked perfectly, like it did back in February. I started by installing the Maté desktop, and uninstalling most of gnome. (Since I still use several gnome apps like meld and gimp.) (Nice to get back my gnome2 style environment, with some gnome3 enhancements.) Upgrading to Maté seems to have solved my problem of frequent crashes due to overheating. (My computer is running cooler the last few days.) Also the problems with memory leaks seems to be gone. (Swap filling up for no good reason, which started a few months ago.) Anyway, thanks for your time :)
Mageia 3 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status 4 months ago. http://blog.mageia.org/en/2014/11/26/lets-say-goodbye-to-mageia-3/ Mageia 3 is no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug. If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of Mageia please feel free to click on "Version" change it against that version of Mageia and reopen this bug. Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed. -- The Mageia Bugsquad
Status: NEW => RESOLVEDResolution: (none) => OLD