Which Desktop environment do you use?

Do you use a non-US keyboard?

CC: (none) => marja11, tarakbumba

I have both kde and gnome installed but use KDE as the primary environment with a US Keyboard.

Installed kde packages are:
kdepasswd-4.12.5-1.2.mga4
telepathy-kde-filetransfer-handler-0.7.0-1.mga4
libkdegames-corebindings-4.12.5-1.mga4
polkit-kde-agent-1-0.99.0-6.mga4
lib64kdevplatformdocumentation7-1.6.0-2.mga4
kdevelop4-php-1.6.0-0.1.mga4
lockdev-1.0.4-0.120111007git.8.mga4
lib64akonadi-kde4-4.12.5-1.mga4
kdegraphics-thumbnailers-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformshell7-1.6.0-2.mga4
kdevelop4-4.6.0-1.mga4
libkdeui5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdenetwork-filesharing-4.12.5-1.mga4
Default-kde4-config-4-0.20140914.1.mga4
kdelibs4-handbooks-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformproject7-1.6.0-2.mga4
lib64kdepim4-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformshell6-1.4.1-2.mga3
cairo-dock-kde-integration-3.2.1-2.mga4
telepathy-kde-common-internals-core-0.7.0-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatforminterfaces7-1.6.0-2.mga4
telepathy-kde-text-ui-0.7.0-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformvcs6-1.4.1-2.mga3
kde-l10n-handbooks-en_GB-4.12.5-1.mga4
kdebase4-runtime-handbook-4.12.5-1.4.mga4
lib64kdegamesprivate1-4.12.5-1.mga4
libobasis4.4-kde-integration-4.4.4.3-3
task-kde4-minimal-4.12.5-1.mga4
mageia-theme-kde-background-1.5.0.37-2.mga4
kdebase4-common-4.12.5-1.2.mga4
lib64kdevplatformlanguage7-1.6.0-2.mga4
kdevplatform4-1.6.0-2.mga4
mageia-kde-translation-1-4.mga4
lib64kdevplatformoutputview6-1.4.1-2.mga3
kdebase4-workspace-handbooks-4.11.14-1.mga4
lib64kdefakes5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdegraphics-strigi-analyzer-4.12.5-1.mga4
kdeartwork4-kscreensaver-4.12.5-1.mga4
akonadi-kde-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformutil6-1.4.1-2.mga3
lib64kdepim-copy4-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformvcs7-1.6.0-2.mga4
lib64lockdev1-1.0.4-0.120111007git.8.mga4
kdenlive-0.9.6-3.mga4
telepathy-kde-integration-module-0.7.0-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformdebugger7-1.6.0-2.mga4
python-kde4-4.12.5-1.mga4
libkdecore5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdebase4-workspace-plasma-config-4.11.14-1.mga4
lib64kdesu5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdepim4-core-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformproject6-1.4.1-2.mga3
kdelibs4-core-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdebase4-workspace-4.11.14-1.mga4
telepathy-kde-contact-list-0.7.0-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformutil7-1.6.0-2.mga4
kdepasswd-handbook-4.12.5-1.2.mga4
lib64kdevplatforminterfaces6-1.4.1-2.mga3
lib64kdeui5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
lib64kdecore5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdepimlibs4-handbooks-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformoutputview7-1.6.0-2.mga4
kde4-audiocd-4.12.5-1.mga4
libkdegames-common-4.12.5-1.mga4
kde4-audiocd-handbook-4.12.5-1.mga4
telepathy-kde-auth-handler-0.7.0-1.mga4
mlt-kdenlive-0.9.0-2.mga4
lib64kdewebkit5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
xsettings-kde-0.12.3-3.mga4
telepathy-kde-approver-0.7.0-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformdocumentation6-1.4.1-2.mga3
telepathy-kde-desktop-applets-0.7.0-1.mga4
kdesdk-strigi-analyzers-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdegames6-4.12.5-1.mga4
telepathy-kde-send-file-0.7.0-1.mga4
kdepim4-kresources-4.12.5-1.mga4
kde4-nsplugins-4.12.5-1.2.mga4
kdepimlibs4-core-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformdebugger6-1.4.1-2.mga3
kde-odf-thumbnail-1.0.0-6.mga4
kdegraphics-mobipocket-4.12.5-1.mga4
kde-l10n-en_GB-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdepimdbusinterfaces4-4.12.5-1.mga4
kde-l10n-en_US-4.12.5-1.mga4
lib64kdeclarative5-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdebase4-runtime-4.12.5-1.4.mga4
lib64kdecorations4-4.11.14-1.mga4
telepathy-kde-accounts-kcm-0.7.0-1.mga4
lib64kde3support4-4.12.5-1.1.mga4
kdevelop4-php-docs-1.6.0-1.mga4
mageia-kde4-config-common-4-0.20140914.1.mga4
lib64kdevplatformlanguage6-1.4.1-2.mga3

Thx for the feedback.

The "Rebooting fixes the problem for a while, but then it recurs" is very puzzling.

Do you see anything funny in the systemlogs?
To see the log from since you booted, run (as root) 

   systemctl -b

to follow what gets added to the log, run (as root):

   journalctl -f

Or just attach the output to this report, and tell 
* at what time in the log you noticed it still worked well and 
* at what time you noticed the bug occurs again

CC: (none) => mageia

(In reply to Marja van Waes from comment #3)
> Thx for the feedback.
> 
> The "Rebooting fixes the problem for a while, but then it recurs" is very
> puzzling.
> 
> Do you see anything funny in the systemlogs?
> To see the log from since you booted, run (as root) 
> 
>    systemctl -b

Oops , that should be

    journalctl -b

> 
> to follow what gets added to the log, run (as root):
> 
>    journalctl -f
> 
> Or just attach the output to this report, and tell 
> * at what time in the log you noticed it still worked well and 
> * at what time you noticed the bug occurs again

Here goes. I last booted July 8 at 14:43.
From the boot log getting to drakconf gui was working with polkit with the following messages:

Jul 09 17:55:28 localhost.localdomain pkexec[14006]: pam_tcb(polkit-1:session): Session opened for root by (uid=500)
Jul 09 17:55:28 localhost.localdomain pkexec[14006]: leon: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/] [COMMAND=/usr/libexec/urpmi.update Core 32bit Backports]

It starts to fail on July 9 at 19:39 with the following messages:

Jul 09 19:39:33 localhost.localdomain polkit-agent-helper-1[19258]: pam_tcb(polkit-1:auth): Authentication failed for leon from (uid=500)
Jul 09 19:39:40 localhost.localdomain polkit-agent-helper-1[19262]: pam_tcb(polkit-1:auth): Authentication failed for leon from (uid=500)
Jul 09 19:39:45 localhost.localdomain polkitd[27249]: Operator of unix-session:c1 FAILED to authenticate to gain authorization for action org.mageia.drakconf.pkexec.run for unix-process:19253:10387479 [/usr/bin/perl /usr/bin/drakconf] (owned by unix-user:leon)
Jul 09 19:39:45 localhost.localdomain pkexec[19256]: leon: Error executing command as another user: Not authorized [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/home/leon] [COMMAND=/usr/libexec/drakconf]
Jul 09 19:39:57 localhost.localdomain su[19321]: pam_tcb(su:auth): Authentication passed for root from leon(uid=500)
Jul 09 19:39:57 localhost.localdomain su[19321]: (to root) leon on pts/1
Jul 09 19:39:57 localhost.localdomain su[19321]: pam_tcb(su:session): Session opened for root by leon(uid=500)
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Stopping Authorization Manager...
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting Authorization Manager...
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain polkitd[19371]: Started polkitd version 0.113
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain polkitd[19371]: Loading rules from directory /etc/polkit-1/rules.d
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain polkitd[19371]: Loading rules from directory /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain polkitd[19371]: Finished loading, compiling and executing 4 rules
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain polkitd[19371]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 on the system bus
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain polkitd[19371]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-session:c1 (system bus name :1.97 [/usr/lib64/kde4/libexec/polkit-kde-authentication-agent-1], object path /org/kde/PolicyKit1/AuthenticationAgent, locale en_US.UTF-8)
Jul 09 19:40:06 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started Authorization Manager.
Jul 09 19:40:21 localhost.localdomain polkit-agent-helper-1[19391]: pam_tcb(polkit-1:auth): Authentication failed for leon from (uid=500)
Jul 09 19:40:25 localhost.localdomain polkitd[19371]: Operator of unix-session:c1 FAILED to authenticate to gain authorization for action org.mageia.drakconf.pkexec.run for unix-process:19386:10392172 [/usr/bin/perl /usr/bin/drakconf] (owned by unix-user:leon)
Jul 09 19:40:25 localhost.localdomain pkexec[19389]: leon: Error executing command as another user: Not authorized [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/home/leon] [COMMAND=/usr/libexec/drakconf]


and the log messages between last working and first failure were:

Jul 09 17:55:32 localhost.localdomain mgaapplet[29644]: Packages are up to date
Jul 09 18:01:01 localhost.localdomain crond[14292]: pam_tcb(crond:session): Session opened for root by (uid=0)
Jul 09 18:01:01 localhost.localdomain CROND[14293]: (root) CMD (nice -n 19 run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jul 09 18:01:01 localhost.localdomain CROND[14292]: pam_tcb(crond:session): Session closed for root
Jul 09 18:16:37 localhost.localdomain kernel: usb 4-6: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-pci
Jul 09 18:19:01 localhost.localdomain kernel: ip_set: protocol 6
Jul 09 18:46:01 localhost.localdomain crond[16832]: pam_tcb(crond:session): Session opened for leon by (uid=0)
Jul 09 18:46:01 localhost.localdomain CROND[16833]: (leon) CMD (/opt/f-prot/fpupdate > /dev/null)
Jul 09 18:46:09 localhost.localdomain fpupdate[16834]: Error: Update - IO error
Jul 09 18:46:09 localhost.localdomain sendmail[16840]: t69Mk9QN016840: from=leon, size=402, class=-60, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201507092246.t69Mk9QN016840@localhost.localdomain>, relay=leon@localhost
Jul 09 18:46:09 localhost.localdomain sendmail[16843]: t69Mk9JH016843: from=<leon@localhost.localdomain>, size=679, class=-60, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201507092246.t69Mk9QN016840@localhost.localdomain>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost [127.0.0.1]
Jul 09 18:46:09 localhost.localdomain sendmail[16840]: t69Mk9QN016840: to=root, ctladdr=leon (500/500), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=138402, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (t69Mk9JH016843 Message accepted for delivery)
Jul 09 18:46:09 localhost.localdomain CROND[16832]: pam_tcb(crond:session): Session closed for leon
Jul 09 18:46:09 localhost.localdomain sendmail[16844]: t69Mk9JH016843: to=<root@localhost.localdomain>, ctladdr=<leon@localhost.localdomain> (500/500), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=local, pri=138902, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Jul 09 19:01:01 localhost.localdomain crond[17526]: pam_tcb(crond:session): Session opened for root by (uid=0)
Jul 09 19:01:01 localhost.localdomain CROND[17527]: (root) CMD (nice -n 19 run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Jul 09 19:01:01 localhost.localdomain CROND[17526]: pam_tcb(crond:session): Session closed for root

I hope this is helpful

P.S. the log from when I run drakconf via kdesu shows:
Jul 12 14:43:34 localhost.localdomain su[2377]: (to root) leon on pts/4
Jul 12 14:43:34 localhost.localdomain su[2377]: pam_tcb(su:session): Session 
opened for root by (uid=500)
Jul 12 14:43:34 localhost.localdomain pkexec[2386]: pam_tcb(polkit-1:session): 
Session opened for root by (uid=0)
Jul 12 14:43:34 localhost.localdomain pkexec[2386]: root: Executing command 
[USER=root] [TTY=/dev/pts/4] [CWD=/home/l...conf]
Jul 12 14:43:34 localhost.localdomain drakconf[2386]: ### Program is starting 
###

I seem to have resolved the issue. 

Somewhere along the line, I had added myself as a user to the group wheel. I don't remember when, but it had to be after the last reboot. I also don't remember why (I may have been playing around).

Just now I removed myself as a user from the group "wheel" and that has resolved the issue.

Thank you for your time and effort.

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => FIXED

(In reply to Leon  Goldman from comment #7)
> I seem to have resolved the issue. 
> 
> Somewhere along the line, I had added myself as a user to the group wheel. I
> don't remember when, but it had to be after the last reboot. I also don't
> remember why (I may have been playing around).
> 
> Just now I removed myself as a user from the group "wheel" and that has
> resolved the issue.
> 
> Thank you for your time and effort.

Ahh, this makes sense.

Polkit will prompt you for *your* (i.e. your user, not the root user's) password if you are in the wheel group.

The popup you see should make that clear (under GNOME it asks me for the password for "Colin Guthrie" and shows me my login photo, so it's really obvious what password it wants). For other desktops the Polkit UI might not be as clearly defined and may just as for the "Administrator" password (which could easily be misinterpreted - both the root user and a user in the wheel group could be considered "Administrators").

So this behaviour (which is NOT new in polkit 0.113) is expected, even if it's not made super clear in some frontends to the password auth UI?

s/\?$// (I didn't mean that last questionmark!)

Yep, that was it. I put myself back into wheel and was able to sign in with my password. Too bad it wasn't clearer; could have saved you all trouble. 
Thanks again.

In KDE the preambles in the pop-up are identical. The only difference is that when a root password is required the password box asks for the "root password", when the user password is required it asks just for "password".

Created attachment 6841 [details]
root password required

polkit dialogue asking for root password

Created attachment 6842 [details]
user password required

polkit dialogue asking for user password

Created attachment 6843 [details]
user password required (GNOME)

(In reply to James Kerr from comment #13)
> Created attachment 6842 [details]
> user password required
> 
> polkit dialogue asking for user password

Yeah asking "Password for $USER" would at least help here.

This gui is kinda ugly... the GNOME one is much nicer. Not sure if this is an upstream KDE problem or our integration. I hope Plasma5 does better here.