Bug#553672: system-tools-backends: *-admin apps report "You are not allowed access to the system configuration"

[Jody]

Josselin Mouette wrote:
> Le mardi 03 novembre 2009 à 09:50 -0500, Jody a écrit : 
>   
>> This bug is also easily reproduced: simply install "squeeze" (with GNOME 
>> desktop) amd64 onto any amd64-capable machine and watch (A) 
>> NetworkManager applet indicate "no network connected" and refuse to 
>> allow configuration of network devices, and (B) all *-admin apps fail to 
>> start.  I have managed to work around some of the *-admin apps issue by 
>> installing gnome-system-tools and system-tools-backends from Debian 
>> "unstable.  Those versions of gnome-system-tools give me a button to 
>> press to make changes, which then asks for the root password, and they 
>> function as expected.  (Workarounds I've found online include adding 
>> "gksu" to the menu items for these apps, but the upgrade makes that 
>> unnecessary.)
>>     
>
> Well, this means there is nothing to do on our side if the bug is
> already fixed, then.
>
>   
>> Unfortunately, network-manager-gnome is the same version in Debian 
>> unstable.  I can't "upgrade my way out."  The *specific* problem is that 
>> the NM applet indicates I simply have "no network connections" and shows 
>> a nice red-and-white "X" on its icon.  Clicking it once brings up a menu 
>> with a greyed out: "Wired network" and below that "device not managed" 
>> as well as an apparently functional "VPN Connections" menu which I do 
>> not use.
>>     
>
> This looks like a well-known issue in network-manager. For now, you need
> to disable the network card in /etc/network/interfaces and configure it
> as a system connection in NM itself. An automated migration is planned
> but it still remains to do.
>
> Cheers, 
>   

Ah.  I didn't even think that NM was the real problem here.  I have read 
reports of NM being a flakey application, but the glitch in the *-admin 
apps led me off course.  Thanks for all the help!