xfce4-session fails to request necessary permissions from policykit to perform shutdown/restart when multiple users are logged in

[jhansonxi]

Binary package hint: gdm

(split off from bug #196816)
On Ubuntu Hardy Heron, if an inbound ssh session (from another system) is active, a shutdown initiated from an XFCE session fails to shut down the system and instead returns to the login screen. With a Gnome session the shutdown proceeds normally. An outbound ssh session, from tty1 for example, does not inhibit the XFCE-initiated shutdown sequence.

On Xubuntu Intrepid Ibex Alpha 2 this occurs with both XFCE and Gnome (added via ubuntu-desktop). Neither will shut down if an inbound ssh session is active.

I can't see any differences in the logs between a Gnome-initiated shutdown and an XFCE-initiated one. The issue is 100% reproducible.

TEST CASE:
There are a number of steps needed to shutdown from the GUI if I am also logged in to a TTY console or SSH.
1. Switch to a TTY after logging in to the desktop
2. login to the TTY console
3. Switch back to the desktop (Alt+F7)
4. Select "Quit" button
5. Select "Shutdown"
  1. On the error message is a "Quit" button, that I must hit.
  2. The gdm login screen comes up, so I am now logged out of the desktop.
  3. Hit "Shutdown" on the GDM screen
  4. Verify that I do want to shutdown.

If you login remotely from another computer using SSH instead of logging in to a TTY console, steps 4 and 5 still apply.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

doesn't seem to be a gdm issue

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release?

If this is still an issue, can you attach the logs and a copy of .xsession-errors from your home directory.

Thanks in advance.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to New. Thanks again!.

[jhansonxi (jhansonxi)]

Problem still exists in Intrepid (8.10).

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage . I have classified this bug as a bug in gdm.
For future reference you might be interested to know that a lot of applications have bug reporting functionality built in to them. This can be accessed via the Report a Problem option in the Help menu for the application with which you are having an issue. You can learn more about this feature at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and any supporting documentation. Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as confirmed and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better!

I can reproduce this bug using Xubuntu 8.04 as the SSH client and Xubuntu 8.10 as the SSH server. If I SSH to the 8.10 system, and then select Quit -> Shutdown, the system will logout the current user only. It will not shutdown until I break the SSH connection at the client. I am attaching the ~/.xsession.error log.

I changed the package to openssh, based on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/251337/comments/1 from Sebastien Bacher that it does not seem to be a gdm bug.

[Cody A.W. Somerville (cody-somerville)]

This is an upstream bug. xfce4-session needs to request the necessary permissions from policykit to shutdown when there are multiple users logged in. There are PK helper functions to do this, xfce4-session just needs to run them.

[ginner159 (ginner159)]

managed to fix it by adding permission for my login to system>permissons under power options add it as only active and on local machine

[Cody A.W. Somerville (cody-somerville)]

This appears to be fixed in Karmic now. I get prompted for my password. :)

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

I don't get prompted for my password. In fact, XFCE now just shuts down the computer and does not even issue a warning, so the situation has deteriorated.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

This bug has been fixed in Xfce git and should be resolved when xfce 4.8 is released.

[Kalman Reti (kalman-reti)]

I don't know if it is the same bug or not, but if you boot a Meerkat livecd, create another user with administrative privileges, logout as ubuntu and login as that other user, shutdown doesn't work in the same way described here, i.e. you get the login screen instead of a shutdown. No XFCE in sight, just gnome.

100% reproducible.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package xfce4-session - 4.7.2-0ubuntu1

---------------
xfce4-session (4.7.2-0ubuntu1) natty; urgency=low

  * Upload to natty (pkg-xfce svn r4617), remaining Ubuntu changes:
    - debian/control:
      + use our Vcs-* fields
      + build-depends on libgconf2-dev and libgnome-keyring-dev to enable
        GNOME services support.
    - debian/rules: pass --enable-gnome --enable-libgnome-keyring to
      dh_auto_configure.
  * Re-enable xfce4-panel support as we have 4.7.x in natty.

xfce4-session (4.7.2-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=low

  [ Yves-Alexis Perez ]
  * New upstream development release.
  * debian/patches:
    - 02_fix-fortune-path refreshed.
    - 04_gk-dont-check-running-use-start refreshed.×
  * debian/control:
    - refresh build-deps for Xfce 4.7.
    - add build-dep on hardening-includes.
  * debian/rules:
    - don't pass libexecdir, useless now
    - update xfsm-shutdown-helper path in chrpath call.
    - update splash-engine path.
    - pick {C,LD}FLAGS from dpkg-buildflags.
    - add hardening flags to {C,LD}FLAGS.
  * debian/xfce4-session.lintian-overrides:
    - drop xfsm-shutdown-helper and balou theme overrides, useless now.

  [ Lionel Le Folgoc ]
  * debian/control:
    - add myself to Uploaders
    - change hal recommends to upower and consolekit.
  * debian/patches/05_reuse-existing-ck-session.patch: do not open a new
    consolekit session if one is already present (Xfce #6685)
  * Bugs fixed by 4.7.x/4.8.x series:
    - Cannot edit an item in Autostarted applications dialog lp: #245171
    - Does not use the ConsoleKit interface to shutdown or reboot lp: #496423
    - Fails to request necessary permissions from policykit to perform
      shutdown/restart when multiple users are logged in lp: #251337
  * debian/patches:
    - 03_gk-start-with-path.patch: dropped, included upstream
    - 04_gk-dont-check-running-use-start.patch: ditto
    - 05_reuse-existing-ck-session.patch: dropped too.

xfce4-session (4.6.2-2) unstable; urgency=low

  * debian/patches:
    - 03_gk-start-with-path and 04_gk-dont-check-running-use-start added,
     change the way it starts gnome-keyring so it correctly runs in the
     session and exports environment variables. closes: #523322
  * debian/control
    - update standards version to 3.9.1.
 -- Lionel Le Folgoc <email address hidden> Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:42:50 +0100