Bug#252460: capplets: Error message when /dev/pmu is not writable
should be changed
Kevin McCarty
Kevin McCarty <kmccarty@Princeton.EDU>, 252460@bugs.debian.org
Thu, 03 Jun 2004 11:09:45 -0400
Package: capplets
Version: 1:2.6.1-3
Severity: minor
Hi,
When /dev/pmu is not writable, gnome-settings-daemon outputs an error box
on login with this message:
Permissions on the file /dev/pmu are broken
There are two reasons this should be fixed. First, the error box gives no
indication of what program is popping it up or what functionality is lost
by not having a user-writable /dev/pmu, and has no option not to see the
error box again. Second, it is implicitly a security breach to make
/dev/pmu user-writable (it being a device file), and the error message
gives no indication of this.
I suggest two possible resolutions. The first is the preferred solution,
but wreaks havoc with translations. The second is a quick and dirty
solution but doesn't require any work from translators.
Solution 1) Rewrite the function fblevel_problem_cb() in
gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-multimedia-keys.c to report all the
requested information above, and to produce an error dialog box with a
checkbox labeled "Don't show this warning again." Of course the info
about whether the dialog should be shown must be stored somewhere under
~/.gnome ...
Solution 2) In the same file, comment out lines 940-941:
if (acme->levobj == NULL)
fblevel_problem_cb ();
and create a README.Debian for capplets that mentions the need for /dev/pmu
to be user-writable in order for the user to have control over the level
of backlighting.
Suggested method: as root, run the commands
chown root:video /dev/pmu
chmod g+rw /dev/pmu
# or whatever devfs or udev equivalents are for the above two lines
adduser username video
# where username is someone who can be trusted not to cause problems
# when given access to devices in video group
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing')
Architecture: powerpc (ppc)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.6-powerpc
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
Versions of packages capplets depends on:
ii capplets-data 1:2.6.1-3 configuration applets for GNOME 2
ii gnome-control-center 1:2.6.1-3 The GNOME Control Center for GNOME
ii gnome-desktop-data 2.6.1-2 Common files for GNOME 2 desktop a
ii gnome-icon-theme 1.2.1-2 GNOME Desktop icon theme
ii gnome-panel 2.6.1-4 Launch and/or dock GNOME 2 applica
ii gnome-session 2.6.1-5 The GNOME 2 Session Manager
ii libart-2.0-2 2.3.16-5 Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii libasound2 1.0.4-1 Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
ii libatk1.0-0 1.6.1-2 The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii libaudiofile0 0.2.6-3 Open-source version of SGI's audio
ii libbonobo2-0 2.6.0-2 Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii libbonoboui2-0 2.6.1-1 The Bonobo UI library
ii libc6 2.3.2.ds1-13 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libeel2-2 2.6.1-3 Eazel Extensions Library (for GNOM
ii libesd0 0.2.29-1 Enlightened Sound Daemon - Shared
ii libfontconfig1 2.2.2-2 generic font configuration library
ii libfreetype6 2.1.7-2 FreeType 2 font engine, shared lib
ii libgail-common 1.4.1-1 GNOME Accessibility Implementation
ii libgail17 1.4.1-1 GNOME Accessibility Implementation
ii libgconf2-4 2.6.1-2 GNOME configuration database syste
ii libgcrypt7 1.1.90-1.1 LGPL Crypto library - runtime libr
ii libglade2-0 1:2.4.0-1 Library to load .glade files at ru
ii libglib2.0-0 2.4.1-2 The GLib library of C routines
ii libgnome-desktop-2 2.6.1-2 Utility library for loading .deskt
ii libgnome-keyring0 0.2.1-2 GNOME keyring services library
ii libgnome2-0 2.6.1-2 The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii libgnomecanvas2-0 2.6.1.1-2 A powerful object-oriented display
ii libgnomeui-0 2.6.1.1-2 The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii libgnomevfs2-0 2.6.1.1-3 The GNOME virtual file-system libr
ii libgnutls10 1.0.4-3 GNU TLS library - runtime library
ii libgpg-error0 0.7-1 library for common error values an
ii libgstreamer-plugins0.8-0 0.8.1-3 Various GStreamer libraries and li
ii libgstreamer0.8-0 0.8.1-2 Core GStreamer libraries, plugins,
ii libgtk2.0-0 2.4.1-4 The GTK+ graphical user interface
ii libice6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 Inter-Client Exchange library
ii libjpeg62 6b-9 The Independent JPEG Group's JPEG
ii libmetacity0 1:2.8.1-3 Common library of lightweight GTK2
ii libnautilus2-2 2.6.1-3 libraries for nautilus components
ii liborbit2 1:2.10.2-1.1 libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii libpango1.0-0 1.4.0-3 Layout and rendering of internatio
ii libpopt0 1.7-4 lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii libsm6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 X Window System Session Management
ii libstartup-notification0 0.6-2 library for program launch feedbac
ii libtasn1-2 0.2.7-2 Manage ASN.1 structures (runtime)
ii libx11-6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 X Window System protocol client li
ii libxext6 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 X Window System miscellaneous exte
ii libxft2 2.1.2-6 FreeType-based font drawing librar
ii libxklavier8 1.02-2 X Keyboard Extension high-level AP
ii libxml2 2.6.10-2 GNOME XML library
ii libxrandr2 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 X Window System Resize, Rotate and
ii libxrender1 0.8.3-7 X Rendering Extension client libra
ii nautilus 2.6.1-3 file manager and graphical shell f
ii xlibs 4.3.0.dfsg.1-4 X Window System client libraries m
ii zlib1g 1:1.2.1.1-3 compression library - runtime
-- no debconf information
regards,
--
Kevin B. McCarty <kmccarty@princeton.edu> Physics Department
WWW: http://www.princeton.edu/~kmccarty/ Princeton University
GPG: public key ID 4F83C751 Princeton, NJ 08544