password.py and AUTH_TYPES

[brian_p]

AUTH_TYPES has 'debian':'su', which requires a user to enter the root/superuser password. The Debian installer allows for having or not having a root password; without a root password the installer pulls in the sudo package. A user who chooses not to have a root password seems to be left without any means to install a plugin, for example.

password.py has a number of TBDs in it. Are there plans to cope with the Debian situation in the future or to give users the opportunity to choose an authentication method?

#825383 is the relevant bug report:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=825383

Cheers,

Brian.

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Ok, it turns out that it's a bit more complicated than just having sudo in AUTH_TYPES. That will work to get a plugin installed but then hp-doctor also requires some further adjustment.

The number of users who set up the installer without a root password might be much fewer than the ones who do, but it is still a legitimate choice to make at installation time. Those who do take it are likely to encounter some problem with aspects of hplip.

Cheers,

Brian.

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Please ignore "...left without any means to install a plugin..."

Cheers,

Brian.

[Shivani Mandora (shivani1709)]

Hi,

It is recommended to install the drivers using the root user account. We will check this opinion and let you know if we can incorporate this in the future hplip driver releases.

Thanks,
Shivani Mandora

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Thank you for the reply Shivani. It is always good to have engagement with the team at HPLIP.

In the context of a machine using only sudo your advice does not make sense. I imagine you would not give it to a Ubuntu user - for rather obvious reasons. We have a Debian user who has set up access to services only through sudo when the OS was installed. There is no fundamental technical difference here between a Debian or Ubuntu installation

Besides, installing any programs that hp-doctor wants is determined by distros.dat. This file mandates that su is used on Debian. Altering auth_types is not sufficient.

There is some quite complex work to be done to accomodate Debian. I appreciate you are checking the situation and it would be good to know what your decision is. If you decide "No, we will not support this", that's fine by me. Just inform us. We would then know where we are up to.

Cheers,

Brian.