Comment 7 for bug 421660

Revision history for this message
gabrielbenjamin (gabriel-ben-jamin) wrote : Re: [Bug 421660] Re: gksu's and gksudo's modal password prompt prevents OnBoard's virtual keyboard input, causing accessibility issues

Certainly that's a workaround; I'm glad you mentioned it. I found out after
submitting this bug that prompts can be made not to grab via one of the
options in the Assistive Technologies section of Ubuntu Preferences (the
one below "Enable assistive technologies"). My only thought is that if
OnBoard is supposed to be a genuine keyboard substitute, it seems like an
overly broad solution--either gksu grabs focus from everything, including
OnBoard, or from nothing at. I wonder if it's possible to choose some
applications that are excluded from gksu's grab behavior? Seems like the
most satisfactory fix for the bug to implement that, and put OnBoard on
that list by default. I guess that makes this a feature request?

On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 12:07 PM, marmuta <email address hidden> wrote:

> Since no one has mentioned it yet, gksu's grab can be turned off:
> $ gconftool-2 --set /apps/gksu/disable-grab --type boolean true
>
> or for a little gui run
> $ gksu-properties
> and select Grab mode: disable
>
> You should then be able to type passwords with Onboard.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/421660
>
> Title:
> gksu's and gksudo's modal password prompt prevents OnBoard's virtual
> keyboard input, causing accessibility issues
>
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts:
> Invalid
> Status in Ubuntu on the Nexus 7:
> Confirmed
> Status in “gksu” package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> I'm loath to report this as a bug, since it is functioning as
> designed, but I can't really find a better place to submit my
> complaint. I'm running 9.04 Netbook Remix, and if I run a GUI
> application and do something requiring sudo privileges, I receive a
> password prompt that blocks access to any other windows on the screen.
> Fine and good, but because of a disability, my only means of keyboard
> input is the OnBoard on-screen keyboard. My only recourse for such
> basic tasks as installing updates and adding packages is to pull out
> the terminal, hope I can find the pertinent command, and sudo it so I
> can give my password via terminal. This rather negates the convenience
> of doing these things from the GUI.
>
> Naturally, the expected behavior is that I be able to use OnBoard to
> enter my password into the prompt.
>
> Any other user who uses an on-screen keyboard or other GUI-based
> application for keyboard input will be susceptible to this issue. I
> imagine there are a fair number.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts/+bug/421660/+subscriptions
>

--

-Ben