Comment 8 for bug 205201

>The is due to kdesudo now loading the root profile instead of the user's one.
This is a very sane thing to do.

>The old way to work [...] but cause lots of other issues, since
> config files in the user's profile where set to root UID/GID.
Indeed,
a) it caused failure to upgrade from Gutsy to Hardy because root owned
root:root /var/tmp/kdecache-hoehle/http/c/changelogs.ubuntu.com_meta-release_3c25dc09

b) find ~hoehle/. -user root -print
/home/hoehle/./.viminfo
/home/hoehle/./.aptitude/config
/home/hoehle/./.kde/share/config/adept_managerrc
Root rights have nothing to do in these files, they are mine ;)

Q: Howto detect whether your $HOME files are at risk?
A: as root, # cd
If it says /home/..., you maybe at trouble
If it says /root, you should be safe.
Also try # echo $HOME
# su - will take you into such a safe environment (but you'll have to set some variables to be able to start X applications that way).

You may consider adding "set_home" to /etc/sudoers, or systematically use sudo -H.