gksu to regular users broken

[ceg]

Binary package hint: gksu

In (x)ubuntu 8.04 it ist not possible to run an application as a different regular user with gksu.

A simple test:

Inserting the following line into /etc/sudoers (with visudo)

   user ALL=(otheruser) ALL

leads to:

   user@hostname:~$ gksu -u otheruser firefox
(graphical password prompt)
   Error: cannot open display: :0.0
   user@hostname:~$

Inserting

   user ALL=(otheruser)NOPASSWD: ALL

leads to:

   user@hostname:~$ gksu -u otheruser firefox
   user@hostname:~$

(doesn't even get to the error message)

[pitwalker (pitwalker)]

I also hate that. The menu commands are useless for normal users!
Is Ubuntu "Linux for human beings"? When an account cannot have sudo rights (for anything),
the humanoid question is:
  What is the root's password?
  Or please select/write an admin account name and gave that account's password.
Currently we must gave a password for root and use ALT+F2 "gksu -w synaptic" for workaround.

[pitwalker (pitwalker)]

"alap" is my first account, an admin account.
gksu -u alap /usr/local/sbin/synaptic
this command not works with alap's password
this command not works with root's password
(I tested under XFCE)

[ceg (ceg)]

Still no gksu functionality to run apps as a differnt user (other then root) in ubuntu 9.04.

(i.e. no way to quickly check your own email on the computer running all day at the reception with the account used by all the receptionists for example.)

[ceg (ceg)]

The following wiki page now contains more information and ties together related bugs.
 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MultiUserManagement