OK, I understand about changing to Super User, but my system doesn’t behave as I expect.
Here’s the example: I’m trying to edit smb.conf
I can issue the command <kwrite /etc/samba/smb.conf>, get presented with a nice GUI based editor with that file open, make the changes and then click ‘save’. I’m warned that save might not work, take the option to proceed and indeed save fails. No surprise: I don’t have permission to write that file.
I change to SU and issue the same command again. Now nothing happens at the command line - no GUI based edit screen is opened. The only change is in the title bar for that terminal window. It changes from <user:> bash to <user:> kwrite. I seem to be in the editor, but not in GUI mode and none of the existing file contents are displayed. The only way to exit this dialog is with <Ctrl><Shift><Q> - and this also closes my terminal session. So I can’t edit the file that way.
If I issues the command KDESU /etc/samba/smb.conf as a user, then a similar behaviour results.
The only way I have found to edit this root-owned file is to use the KDE application launcher–>Applications–>System–>File Manager–>File Manager - Super User Mode/KDE3
I forgot to say that I’m using KDE 4.1, but if I don’t use the KDE3 version File Manager, then I get this error message when attempting to open the file from the file manager (Dolphin) browser:
KDEInit could not launch /usr/bin/kwrite
Is this indicative of some sort of configuration problem?
This problem does exist with kde4.1. Most users got round it the way you have done via file-manager - superuser mode. Some just upgraded to kde4.3,which also solved this issue
I’ve just baffled my head with this been in all kinds of places so often we see xhost blah… tried that then decided not to try it and tested. Well blow me down with a feather xclock works fine. So next started looking at kdmrc nothing I could see would cause this behaviour finally stumbled across it…