[users-admin] Can't list all groups, 'lp' group not available

[Trouilliez vincent]

Binary package hint: gnome-system-tools

One of the application I use requires the user to be in the 'lp' group, so it can access /dev/parport0 (which is created by loading the 'ppdev' kernel module).

In Dapper I could click on something like "list all groups", and pick up 'lp', then add myself to it. In Edgy, the GUI has been reworked/simplified... maybe too simplified, as there is no way anymore to display the 'lp' group (and many othe groups as well)... therefore I can' t use my program anymore. :-/

I tried googling to do the same task on the command line, but I ended up screwing my system. So really, a useable GUI would be welcome.

[Peter Ryan (peterx14)]

I'm also running Edgy and have the same problem.

The help text for Users settings says:

"
Users list

    Shows the available users. depending on the gconf key "/apps/gnome-system-tools/users/show_all" it will show the system users too.
"

however, when I ran gconf-editor, I found it had an entry named "showall" (with no underscore). I tried enabling this setting but it made no difference. I added a new entry named "show_all" and it seems to work... sometimes! There's something not quite right about this, but I am at a loss to explain the inconsistent results I am seeing.

[Peter Ryan (peterx14)]

After further testing I have discovered that:

1. Users settings, when first started, doesn't show all users regardless of gconf settings

2. If start Users settings and _then_ start gconf-editor and _then_ toggle the state of my newly added "show_all" (with underscore) setting, this DOES cause User settings to show all users.

I suspect that the User settings app, help file and gconf schema need to be check to make the consistent!

[Trouilliez vincent (vincent-trouilliez-modulonet)]

Thanks to Peter for investigating !
I did the same exsperiments, and I can confirm: The option in gconf IS there, and it doesn't work.
And if I create a show_all key, it works perfectly, and strangely this also makes the stock showall option start working as well, somehow ! (though in reverse: shows all groups when FALSE !).

So I guess the bug should be retitled from "czn't show all grpups anymore", to "show_all gconf key doesn't work" ...

[Trouilliez vincent (vincent-trouilliez-modulonet)]

The problem is still there in Feisty... the user/group GUI still doesn't let me list all groups... I still need to by pass the GUI and do it on the command line, with the risk of screwing up my system (which I ahve already done)...

[Koen_Wybo (koen-wybo)]

To be absolutely sure: you do activate gconf-editor as root? If you activate it as normal user it won't work.
Just do a "sudo gconf-editor" and follow the advice.

[Trouilliez vincent (vincent-trouilliez-modulonet)]

No, I didn't run gconf-editor as root.
I just did it, and the stock (mispelled, lacking the underscore) "showall" key, worked perfectly.

So at least we have this workaround, though it's much more complicated than doing it on the command line... kinda defeats the purpose of having a GUI in the first place ! ;-)
Also, the key not only lists all groups, but also all users, which was unwanted.

It would be nice to have the "show all" check box, put back into the GUI, as it used to be.
I understand that upstream probably wanted to simplify the GUI, but really, I think this one simplication was "too much", and turns out to be rather counter productive in practice :-/

Could it be possible to push this bug upstream ? If keep it in Malone only, they will never hear our voices, and never reconsider their decision...
Of course, Ubuntu is plenty capable of patching the GUI to bring back the check box, but I guess they are trying to keep the delta with upstream as slim as possible, for obvious ressources reason... so again, would be nice to push our bug report to gnome upstream, and add a bug watch to Malone so we stay informed.

[takamori (dt02472)]

For those using 7.10 Gutsy I just added a GConfEditor page to the Ubuntu wiki Community docs; when I simply ran it using "sudo gconf-editor" the normal steps worked just fine as-is without hacks, altho there is still the issue of the key value not being consistent between the help page and the actual expected key.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

I'm going to mark this as a duplicate of bug 124993 which has some more information and been forwarded upstream already.