[users-admin] Group Properties dialog sets GID to 0 on first launch

[GaryW]

Binary package hint: gnome-system-tools

The group staff is a debian/ubuntu default and has group ID of 50

When using the graphical tool to amend a group so as to add an additional
user to that group the dialogue is not showing the group ID but is instead
showing zero.

Behaviour is illustrated here:
  http://lh3.ggpht.com/_x7pxPJzrZL0/SvNczSvKQ6I/AAAAAAAAAmw/b-xgKwDiHkI/s720/groupPropertiesDialogueNotShowingCorrectGroupIDinKarmic__200911amd754.png

( 3rd image in gallery http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gnubyexample/GnubyexampleQuestionsAndBugReports2009Q4# )

Supporting Information
-----------------------------
gnubyexample@amd754n:~$ date;uname -a;cat /etc/*release*;date;dpkg -l | grep 'system-tools';date;grep -H staff /etc/group
Thu Nov 5 23:25:26 GMT 2009
Linux amd754n 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:04:26 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=9.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=karmic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.10"
Thu Nov 5 23:25:26 GMT 2009
ii gnome-system-tools 2.28.1-0ubuntu2 Cross-platform configuration utilities for G
ii liboobs-1-4 2.22.2-0ubuntu1 GObject based interface to system-tools-back
ii system-tools-backends 2.8.2-1 System Tools to manage computer configuratio
Thu Nov 5 23:25:26 GMT 2009
/etc/group:staff:x:50:gnubyexample

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Good catch, but you didn't go far enough... If you close and reopen the properties dialog, the real GID is shown. ;-)

Thanks for reporting, it's now fixed upstream, but I'm not sure this will be accepted for a Stable Release Update, given that it's not very harmful, and an easy workaround is available. Anyway, the patch is at http://git.gnome.org/cgit/gnome-system-tools/commit/?id=7336ecc0572ecb12990e24f742740864dc3c8d7d

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

As reported in the duplicate bug 486130, this has more dramatic consequences when creating a group: the GID is set to 0 by default, which leads to adding users to the root group without notice. While admins can be clever enough to change that, people may still miss this detail, which could be highly dangerous... I think it would be worth a SRU.

[iGadget (igadget)]

Milan, thanks for confirming my report. While you're at it, I hope the fix also contains a check on the GID that's entered by the user when adding a new group. If the GID exists, it should notify the user about it (preferably in an elegant way) and should not just silently accept (and ultimately fail to create the new group, while adding the specified users to the wrong group).

[iGadget (igadget)]

On the usability side of things - don't you agree the button called 'Manage Groups' is actually misleading when the user hasn't unlocked the settings? There's nothing to manage after all.

IMHO, when the settings are locked, the button should be called 'View Groups'. As soon as the user has unlocked the settings, the name should automatically change to 'Manage Groups'.

This probably could be called a different bug, but why not fix it properly while you're at it? :-)

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

The fix only contains the minimal changes we need to avoid giving users admin rights. We try not to introduce important changes in stable releases, and absolutely never change the user interface. I'll fix that for the next release, that's quite easy to do actually.

As for the label of the button, I don't think changing its name would be a good idea; keeping the UI stable is important. Anyway, there's little point in viewing the list of groups when you don't have the rights to edit it. More generally, the tool is being completely redesigned currently, so we may find something better for it - at least, add an unlock button to that dialog. If you other have ideas about it, you can come and discuss this on our list. See http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/system-tools-list

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Development version 2.29.1 contains the fix for the "GID is 0 on start" problem, and also prevents you from choosing already used GIDs when creating/editing groups.

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Hm, silly: the latter is actually not in 2.29.1, but will be in the next release. Anyway, that's for Lucid.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Fixed in lucid, thanks Milan!

If we have another g-s-t SRU in karmic, this can be slipped in, but I think it's not serious enough to warrant the effort of an SRU by itself.

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

karmic has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the karmic task for this ticket as 'Won't Fix'.