#633652 using another user's session bus indistinguishable from later disconnection (triggers exit-on-close)

Package:
dbus
Source:
dbus
Description:
simple interprocess messaging system (system message bus)
Submitter:
Date:
2021-10-03 07:15:03 UTC
Severity:
normal
#633652#5
Date:
2011-07-12 12:47:08 UTC
From:
To:
X-windows programs don't work anymore for root.

And whatever is making these messages sure doesn't give a clue as to
what package to reassign the bug to.

# emacs -Q #sometimes things work, (but only for a few minutes.) But mostly they don't start at all anymore:
# emacs -Q
g_dbus_connection_real_closed: Remote peer vanished with error: Underlying GIOStream returned 0 bytes on an async read (g-io-error-quark, 0). Exiting.
# firefox
**
GLib-GIO:ERROR:/build/buildd-glib2.0_2.28.6-1-i386-A3fp41/glib2.0-2.28.6/./gio/gdbusconnection.c:2279:initable_init: assertion failed: (connection->initialization_error == NULL)
Aborted

#633652#10
Date:
2011-07-12 14:00:10 UTC
From:
To:
jidanni@jidanni.org writes:

These both sound like dbus misconfiguration to me. Does something as
simple as "xclock" work?

#633652#15
Date:
2011-07-12 14:07:53 UTC
From:
To:
TJL> These both sound like dbus misconfiguration to me. Does something as
TJL> simple as "xclock" work?
Yes xclock works.

#633652#20
Date:
2011-07-12 22:16:31 UTC
From:
To:
jidanni@jidanni.org writes:

Ok. You really need to describe what sort of setup you are using before
it is possible to guess what could be wrong. Are you starting dbus
session bus at all?

#633652#25
Date:
2011-07-13 01:59:09 UTC
From:
To:
TJL> jidanni@jidanni.org writes:
TJL> it is possible to guess what could be wrong. Are you starting dbus
TJL> session bus at all?

I think so. I see its name here:
# pstree -A
init-+-acpid
     |-atd
     |-bash---xterm---su---bash---pstree
     |-console-kit-dae---64*[{console-kit-da}]
     |-cron
     |-2*[dbus-daemon]
     |-dbus-launch
     |-dictd
     |-exim4
     |-getmail---sleep
     |-getty
     |-login---bash
     |-nodm---strace---nodm.real-+-Xorg
     |                           `-nodm.real---ck-launch-sessi-+-bash---icewm-session-+-icewm
     |                                                         |                      |-icewmbg
     |                                                         |                      `-icewmtray
     |                                                         `-ssh-agent
     |-ntpd
     |-pdnsd---3*[{pdnsd}]
     |-pppd
     |-rsyslogd---3*[{rsyslogd}]
     |-scim-helper-man
     |-scim-launcher
     |-scim-panel-gtk---{scim-panel-gtk}
     |-smartd
     |-udevd---2*[udevd]
     |-wwwoffled
     |-xterm---bash---emacs-+-aspell
     |                      `-2*[{emacs}]
     `-z50apt-get---sleep

This bug started happening this month. And on all my computers.

#633652#30
Date:
2011-07-13 11:13:31 UTC
From:
To:
jidanni@jidanni.org writes:

This is probably your dbus system bus. It's hard to say since pstree
does not show what arguments were used.

#633652#35
Date:
2011-07-13 13:02:36 UTC
From:
To:
TJL> This is probably your dbus system bus. It's hard to say since pstree
TJL> does not show what arguments were used.
# pstree -aA|grep dbus
  |               |-grep dbus
  |-dbus-daemon --system
  |-dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session
  |-dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session

#633652#40
Date:
2011-07-14 18:08:45 UTC
From:
To:
reassign 633652 dbus
thanks

I'll leave it to the dbus maintainer to either close this bug or do
$whatever ;-)


Thanks & cheers!
to
But mostly
Underlying
0).
A3fp41/glib2.0-2.28.6/./

#633652#47
Date:
2011-07-15 10:32:35 UTC
From:
To:
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
dbus, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive:

dbus-1-dbg_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
  to main/d/dbus/dbus-1-dbg_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
dbus-1-doc_1.4.12-5_all.deb
  to main/d/dbus/dbus-1-doc_1.4.12-5_all.deb
dbus-x11_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
  to main/d/dbus/dbus-x11_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
dbus_1.4.12-5.debian.tar.gz
  to main/d/dbus/dbus_1.4.12-5.debian.tar.gz
dbus_1.4.12-5.dsc
  to main/d/dbus/dbus_1.4.12-5.dsc
dbus_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
  to main/d/dbus/dbus_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
libdbus-1-3_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
  to main/d/dbus/libdbus-1-3_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
libdbus-1-dev_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
  to main/d/dbus/libdbus-1-dev_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb



A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 633652@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org> (supplier of updated dbus package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:45:56 +0100
Source: dbus
Binary: dbus dbus-x11 libdbus-1-3 dbus-1-doc libdbus-1-dev dbus-1-dbg
Architecture: source amd64 all
Version: 1.4.12-5
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: low
Maintainer: Utopia Maintenance Team <pkg-utopia-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
Description:
 dbus       - simple interprocess messaging system (daemon and utilities)
 dbus-1-dbg - simple interprocess messaging system (debug symbols)
 dbus-1-doc - simple interprocess messaging system (documentation)
 dbus-x11   - simple interprocess messaging system (X11 deps)
 libdbus-1-3 - simple interprocess messaging system (library)
 libdbus-1-dev - simple interprocess messaging system (development headers)
Closes: 633652
Changes:
 dbus (1.4.12-5) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   * Undo the changed invocation for dbus-launch, which seems to cause
     more problems than it solves (LP: #807614, LP: #809900, probably also
     Closes: #633652)
   * Work around #453755 by just reopening stdin from /dev/null instead,
     until fd.o #39197 gets fixed
Checksums-Sha1:
 3c53aab10e75a667f09f99144fda45953abcbb9e 2219 dbus_1.4.12-5.dsc
 a6541b41bca518bd1efce318925f5dfc62b23444 32877 dbus_1.4.12-5.debian.tar.gz
 bdc942953027575a9e8373068e09c94ec52fa25d 387488 dbus_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 eca3b686d2392ce0bf9ff953701b1c881b3ffe7f 52122 dbus-x11_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 b27ed7c107c64b7abf6922979e50e2ec98aae733 162464 libdbus-1-3_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 aa20797111e8384fb580da6c64db67e575953173 2086526 dbus-1-doc_1.4.12-5_all.deb
 850144e6e6ca8a7f86615017a8a4880a5bb34de0 241532 libdbus-1-dev_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
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Checksums-Sha256:
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 6a3e2a81bb6916761ef3c6043d222560c729c237876e2da5ebd183bfa6d20435 32877 dbus_1.4.12-5.debian.tar.gz
 d88cc6e4db0d9f794bc75a68a0cffb5852862e390d5252f12f30e26247d59ce3 387488 dbus_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 f840ac41620eadead0e974be55becf5f17c4276872265445ce8c8bd6f1c370b9 52122 dbus-x11_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 45d250014cdd7ba9fa8dd27144a3511abbe2b80cb915618f775b320a090a013f 162464 libdbus-1-3_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 6331d52b6cca200fc75b56eb08e806a478f2e8e206d35291c9d6b6b8862b3a51 2086526 dbus-1-doc_1.4.12-5_all.deb
 d86009cc5c615c1f510f4f735ea392fd7368ab959942d8d980578c57b36ef0b1 241532 libdbus-1-dev_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 0b479f77a260592e3c96cebb39a7237efc1c9c4fb3a24722921837b410035caf 3593164 dbus-1-dbg_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
Files:
 a6f0b40b3882b862b6b2aa25fa710d1a 2219 devel optional dbus_1.4.12-5.dsc
 1b8d6149d8de176a87a5be6e4fafbac2 32877 devel optional dbus_1.4.12-5.debian.tar.gz
 761d4cc6d01348978fca563caef31318 387488 devel optional dbus_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 81218d57e8193f28aff936a63c7f51ca 52122 x11 optional dbus-x11_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 45508ed491974fe91c50c920eaa19fd3 162464 libs optional libdbus-1-3_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 8420604c1485a3c986f7aea47aa381de 2086526 doc optional dbus-1-doc_1.4.12-5_all.deb
 d11b0ac1856dedfa0b45c1f0d5b9a374 241532 libdevel optional libdbus-1-dev_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
 e484eefc5d98be4eefd9b19568cf02f4 3593164 debug extra dbus-1-dbg_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb
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#633652#52
Date:
2011-07-17 20:14:24 UTC
From:
To:
In the mail from Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
he states that the bug  #633652 is fixed and
closed by the new version of the package
dbus_1.4.12-5_amd64.deb and its friends.

I immediately upgraded both a Debian unstable and a
Debian testing. Both systems got a new version of dbus:

root@sally:/home/bob# dpkg -l | grep dbus
ii  dbus                       1.4.12-5       simple interprocess
messaging system (daemon and utilities)
ii  dbus-x11                1.4.12-5       simple interprocess
messaging system (X11 deps)
ii  libdbus-1-3             1.4.12-5       simple interprocess
messaging system (library)
ii  libdbus-glib-1-2      0.94-4          simple interprocess
messaging system (GLib-based shared library)
ii  libqt4-dbus             4:4.7.3-5      Qt 4 D-Bus module

then I tested from an xterm su-ed to root. I tested with:
xterm, xclock, iceweasel and emacs. The xterm and xclock
worked but both iceweasel and emacs failed with the same
error as reported originally by jidanni@jidanni.org:

GLib-GIO:ERROR:/tmp/buildd/glib2.0-2.28.6/./gio/gdbusconnection.c:
          2279:initable_init: assertion failed:
(connection->initialization_error == NULL)
Fatal error (6)Aborted

#633652#57
Date:
2011-07-18 08:10:22 UTC
From:
To:
reopen 633652
retitle 633652 Gtk applications (emacs, iceweasel) no longer start under su to root
thanks

I'd thought that this was additional fallout from working around the most
important case of #453755 (which did cause some regressions), but apparently
not.

I notice that both Iceweasel and Emacs use Gtk, so the cause of the assertion
error is probably a behaviour change in either Gtk or GLib causing it to
connect to D-Bus where it previously didn't.

In the emacs case reported by jidanni:

something in the dependency stack is detecting inability to connect to D-Bus
and deciding that it can't go on without D-Bus support. For random X apps this
may be true, for emacs it probably isn't!

In the Iceweasel case reported by Bob and jidanni:

this should never happen: assertions are always a bug. The application or
library (whichever layer is connecting to D-Bus) should catch the error and
deal with it gracefully, either by refusing to run (if D-Bus is an essential
part of its functionality) or by continuing without D-Bus support.

The underlying error can be seen by running dbus-send under su:
[...]

What's happening here is that the DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS environment
variable points to your non-root user's session bus, to which other users (even
root) are not allowed to connect. If you unset that environment variable,
the autolaunch mechanism will give you a new session bus ("a new GUI session")
for the combination of user root and the X server you're connected to:

(notice that this mini-session does not contain any of the session services
you'd see in your main GUI session, like org.gnome.GConf or whatever - it
has just started, to accomodate that dbus-send call, and is empty).

If you use something like sudo which unsets most environment variables,
that'd also work.

The long-term solution for this is probably to stop running X applications as
root: in particular, running Iceweasel (huge, network-facing and
security-sensitive) as root sounds like a bad idea. See
<http://www.gtk.org/setuid.html> for Gtk upstream's view of this.

Regards,
    S

#633652#64
Date:
2011-07-18 08:10:22 UTC
From:
To:
reopen 633652
retitle 633652 Gtk applications (emacs, iceweasel) no longer start under su to root
thanks

I'd thought that this was additional fallout from working around the most
important case of #453755 (which did cause some regressions), but apparently
not.

I notice that both Iceweasel and Emacs use Gtk, so the cause of the assertion
error is probably a behaviour change in either Gtk or GLib causing it to
connect to D-Bus where it previously didn't.

In the emacs case reported by jidanni:

something in the dependency stack is detecting inability to connect to D-Bus
and deciding that it can't go on without D-Bus support. For random X apps this
may be true, for emacs it probably isn't!

In the Iceweasel case reported by Bob and jidanni:

this should never happen: assertions are always a bug. The application or
library (whichever layer is connecting to D-Bus) should catch the error and
deal with it gracefully, either by refusing to run (if D-Bus is an essential
part of its functionality) or by continuing without D-Bus support.

The underlying error can be seen by running dbus-send under su:
[...]

What's happening here is that the DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS environment
variable points to your non-root user's session bus, to which other users (even
root) are not allowed to connect. If you unset that environment variable,
the autolaunch mechanism will give you a new session bus ("a new GUI session")
for the combination of user root and the X server you're connected to:

(notice that this mini-session does not contain any of the session services
you'd see in your main GUI session, like org.gnome.GConf or whatever - it
has just started, to accomodate that dbus-send call, and is empty).

If you use something like sudo which unsets most environment variables,
that'd also work.

The long-term solution for this is probably to stop running X applications as
root: in particular, running Iceweasel (huge, network-facing and
security-sensitive) as root sounds like a bad idea. See
<http://www.gtk.org/setuid.html> for Gtk upstream's view of this.

Regards,
    S

#633652#69
Date:
2011-07-18 15:25:01 UTC
From:
To:
clone 633652 -1
reassign -1 libglib2.0-0
retitle -1 GDBus aborts on repeated failure to authenticate with bus daemon
found -1 2.28.6-1
forwarded -1 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635694
tags -1 + patch
thanks

This part of the bug report seems to be
<https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635694> which is a bug in GIO,
fixed upstream in commits 3ea204c and 68b16deb (before versions 2.28.7 and
2.29.4 respectively).

    S

#633652#74
Date:
2011-07-18 15:25:01 UTC
From:
To:
clone 633652 -1
reassign -1 libglib2.0-0
retitle -1 GDBus aborts on repeated failure to authenticate with bus daemon
found -1 2.28.6-1
forwarded -1 https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635694
tags -1 + patch
thanks

This part of the bug report seems to be
<https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635694> which is a bug in GIO,
fixed upstream in commits 3ea204c and 68b16deb (before versions 2.28.7 and
2.29.4 respectively).

    S

#633652#79
Date:
2011-07-19 02:30:40 UTC
From:
To:
SM> The long-term solution for this is probably to stop running X applications as root

Root not allowed to use emacs? I'm telling my mom.
And I recall synaptic and some other tools are exclusively for root.

#633652#84
Date:
2011-07-19 15:01:06 UTC
From:
To:
Is #633652 also the cause of bug #634699, in a non-root application?
All I know is I cannot paste into pcmanx today.
Downgrading pcmanx did not help.

#633652#89
Date:
2011-07-19 15:15:32 UTC
From:
To:
retitle 634699 unicode pasting should not cause the whole paste to disappear
thanks
I see. It is because I tried to paste the line
"歡迎到台灣跨性別 Flickr® 社群!"
Which contained the deadly (to the big5 world) "®" character, causing
the whole input to disappear. It should fail more gracefully!

#633652#94
Date:
2011-08-11 23:43:01 UTC
From:
To:
found 633652 1.5.6-1
severity 633652 grave
thanks
I'm raising the severity of this bug. I feel it is inappropriate for any
more heel dragging to take place. It is embarrassment enough that root
is no longer to use X programs on Debian, including system management
tools specifically designed for root to use. If one does the following,
the whole X session becomes locked. The users half edited letters etc.
are taken for ransom.

# su - nobody
No directory, logging in with HOME=/
nobody@jidanni2:/$ env
SHELL=/bin/sh
TERM=xterm
USER=nobody
MAIL=/var/mail/nobody
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
PWD=/
SHLVL=1
HOME=/
LOGNAME=nobody
DISPLAY=:0
XAUTHORITY=/home/jidanni/.Xauthority
_=/usr/bin/env
nobody@jidanni2:/$ emacs /tmp/ee.txt

Only an expert user who knows CTRL ALT F1 and pstree etc. will
be able to kill the emacs and recover his X session. pstree -aAl shows
  |-bash /home/jidanni/.xsession
  |   `-xterm -class UXTerm -title uxterm -u8 -bg hotpink4 -title # -name # -e su
  |       `-su
  |           `-bash
  |               `-su - nobody
  |                   `-sh
  |                       `-emacs /tmp/ee.txt
  |                           `-dbus-launch --autolaunch=583e5eeffd5b64952b92010045b373b0 --binary-syntax --close-stderr

#633652#103
Date:
2011-08-23 00:08:52 UTC
From:
To:
r> Hi all:

r> I'm a "normal" GUI computer user, I've used things like Delphi,
r> Eclipse, gedit, Notepad++ and Visual Studio all my life. I've also
r> been using emacs for some time under Ubuntu and under Windows. It
r> took me a while to set it up with "standard" behaviour, like
r> shift+arrows for text selection and so on, I found the cua mode to be
r> helpful. Every now and then, I even click on the menus with the
r> mouse. However, I've written some simple, copy-paste lisp too, so I'm
r> not just a standard mouse user. In fact, my .emacs file has grown
r> much more than I ever thought it would. 8-)


r> Now I have to work on a remote server via SSH, and the connection is
r> not fast enough to tunnel X Windows over it, so I have to switch to
r> console mode with "emacs -nw".

r> The console mode has been a shock. There is no mouse at all. I cannot
r> navigate the menus as usual, menu-bar-open is weird and unfriendly.
r> But, worst of all, some key combinations do not work well.

Same for me, but that's life here on Debian, even on ones very own
laptop, no SSH involved, and even if you are root,
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=633652

#633652#108
Date:
2011-08-23 00:35:58 UTC
From:
To:
r> The console mode has been a shock. There is no mouse at all. I cannot
r> navigate the menus as usual, menu-bar-open is weird and unfriendly.
r> But, worst of all, some key combinations do not work well.
But that's the way it must be here on Debian, if you are root.
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=633652
My question is how do all those high powered Debian Developers cope?
Don't tell me they don't use emacs.
Or not as root.
Not even
when
administering their system?

#633652#113
Date:
2011-08-23 00:52:30 UTC
From:
To:
I use emacs under X to administer my Debian systems. I don't run it as
root though. I use emacs TRAMP to use sudo to edit files as root on
the local machine. On remote machines I do the same but in an ssh
session in xterm (I don't use mouse or menu bars in emacs in X
anyway).

Looking at bug 633652, have you tried running X programs as root with
sux or gksu instead of su? http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/sux
http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/gksu

#633652#118
Date:
2011-08-23 01:14:15 UTC
From:
To:
KR> I use emacs under X to administer my Debian systems. I don't run it as
KR> root though. I use emacs TRAMP to use sudo to edit files as root on
KR> the local machine. On remote machines I do the same but in an ssh
KR> session in xterm (I don't use mouse or menu bars in emacs in X
KR> anyway).
I'm a safe sex fan myself, however there are limits to how much I am
willing to sacrifice that raw feel.

KR> Looking at bug 633652, have you tried running X programs as root with
KR> sux or gksu instead of su? http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/sux
KR> http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/gksu

Mmmm, sounds kinky, but at my age I don't think we can teach this old
dog new tricks. But I suppose that's what the younger generation will
use and just mark this bug wontfix. Alas, no family values.

#633652#123
Date:
2011-08-23 01:18:56 UTC
From:
To:
--On Tuesday, August 23, 2011 08:35:58 AM +0800 jidanni@jidanni.org wrote:

If you are truly using the console then it is likely that some of the
issues have nothing to do with emacs and everything to do with the
console terminal emulation.  At a base level emacs is depending on
escape sequences to move the cursor around, but I expect it is doing
a lot fancier things that only a good terminal emulator will keep up
with.  And I would add that I don't really want anyone working on
improving console terminal emulation---there are too many other things
to do that need to be done and no one spends much time on the console
these days.

As a side note I really hate modal editors like vi and its decendents,
but I know enough of it to be able to work on consoles when emacs is
not installed yet or the terminal emulation is not up to it.  It is
just part of managing the system in my view.

Finally, when I am editing text I find that a mouse slows everything
down.  I do just fine with character cell xterms and no mouse.  I do
think it is worth getting color to work when possible.  The syntax
highlighting helps me spot stupid errors early.

Bill

#633652#128
Date:
2011-08-23 08:00:25 UTC
From:
To:
r> The console mode has been a shock.  There is no mouse at all.  I
r> cannot navigate the menus as usual, menu-bar-open is weird and
r> unfriendly.  But, worst of all, some key combinations do not work
r> well.


0> In article <87ty99otg1.fsf@jidanni.org>,
0> jidanni <URL:mailto:jidanni@jidanni.org> ("Jidanni") wrote:

Jidanni> My question is how do all those high powered Debian Developers
Jidanni> cope?  Don't tell me they don't use emacs.  Or not as root.
Jidanni> Not even when administering their system?


I certainly avoid running programs as large and extensible as emacs when
I'm root!  And, generally, all X11 programs fall into that category.

As previously mentioned, Tramp is the ultimate saviour for editing files
as many users on many systems.

If you feel you must run as root, and you want to use a mouse with emacs
in XTerm, then xterm-mouse-mode may help:

/--------
| xterm-mouse-mode is an interactive autoloaded Lisp function in `xt-mouse'.
| (xterm-mouse-mode &optional arg)
|
| Toggle XTerm mouse mode.
| With prefix arg, turn XTerm mouse mode on if arg is positive, otherwise
| turn it off.
|
| Turn it on to use Emacs mouse commands, and off to use xterm mouse
| commands.  This works in terminal emulators compatible with xterm.  It
| only works for simple uses of the mouse.  Basically, only non-modified
| single clicks are supported.  When turned on, the normal xterm mouse
| functionality for such clicks is still available by holding down the
| SHIFT key while pressing the mouse button.
\--------

#633652#133
Date:
2011-08-23 08:17:26 UTC
From:
To:
Yes sux work with both emacs and firefox

And for middle ages dog (not oldtimer) they are the ssh -X root@localhost trick

Bastien

#633652#138
Date:
2011-08-23 09:31:57 UTC
From:
To:
Bastien ROUCARIES <roucaries.bastien@gmail.com> (23/08/2011):

or: sudo XAUTHORITY=~/.Xauthority wireshark

Mraw,
KiBi.

#633652#143
Date:
2011-08-23 17:24:12 UTC
From:
To:
I am now officially pleased with sux, enabling me to use X programs as
root despite http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=633652 .
Thanks everybody. Have a song,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLtzQXTHiqk&list=PL38C412C876528CCB

#633652#148
Date:
2011-09-09 03:46:02 UTC
From:
To:
jidanni@jidanni.org writes:

The mouse should work in Emacs over SSH from an xterm.  Try
(xterm-mouse-mode 1).  It works for me.

There's also a mode to make the mouse work from a Linux console,
if gpm is running.  I haven't used it in a long time.  Look
around for t-mouse.el.

#633652#153
Date:
2011-09-27 11:32:56 UTC
From:
To:
found 633652 1.2.1-5+lenny1
forwarded 633652 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39720
severity 633652 normal
thanks

This bug is not a security vulnerability and does not break unrelated
applications. The fact that Gtk apps now connect to D-Bus makes them a
related application; the reason you've only seen this recently is probably
that increasingly many Gtk apps connect to D-Bus.

I think this may be caused by upstream bug
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39720 which is being worked on.
That bug has existed ever since dbus was written, so marking this as found
in the oldest version Debian cares about (oldstable).

Kenyon Ralph writes:

Yes, this is good advice; any tool that clears most environment variables
should work. If you don't clear environment variables, then your ordinary user
account is trivially root-equivalent anyway (for instance via LD_PRELOAD,
or for Gtk apps, GTK_MODULES) so there's little point in having privilege
separation at all.

sudoedit is another good way to edit system configuration files (it copies
the file to /var/tmp as root, edits that copy of the file as your unprivileged
uid, then copies back it into place as root). The emacs TRAMP facility that
Kenyon Ralph mentions seems an equally good approach.

When run from the (Debian, GNOME, KDE etc.) menu, system administration
apps like synaptic either run under su-to-root, which invokes gksu, sux
or an assortment of others; or, more commonly in recent applications, act
as an unprivileged front-end to a privileged system service.

jidanni writes:
...

Comments like this *reduce* my motivation to fix your pet bugs. If you want
people to fix things for you, please be polite. Insulting volunteer developers
is not a good way to motivate them to help you.

    S

#633652#158
Date:
2011-09-27 12:02:31 UTC
From:
To:
OK thanks... all I know is I now use sux and am back in business.
#633652#171
Date:
2012-02-15 00:01:13 UTC
From:
To:
Dear 633652, sux now sux due to 659878.
#633652#182
Date:
2021-10-03 07:13:24 UTC
From:
To: