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I assume this (synaptic-pkexec) was installed with a recent upgrade? The question is, how do i use it?

When i run it, i'm presented with a banner:

==== AUTHENTICATING FOR com.ubuntu.pkexec.synaptic ===

(in red) and then:

Authentication is required to run the Synaptic Package Manager
Multiple identities can be used for authentication:

and then a numbered list of user's names, several ","s (i assume missing GECOS information) and then the username.

If i select the number for me, i get a password prompt. Enter password and then:

polkit-agent-helper-1: error response to PolicyKit daemon: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Error.Failed: No session for cookie
==== AUTHENTICATION FAILED ===
Error executing command as another user: Not authorized

This incident has been reported.

(to whom?)

How do i configure polkit-agent-helper-1 (or something else?) to "authorize [sic]" myself?
And i'd like to run it as non-root as well.
I'll be sticking with regular synaptic for now...

N0rbert
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Iestyn ap Mwg
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    Possible duplicate of [Why don't gksu/gksudo or launching a graphical application with sudo work with Wayland?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/961967/why-dont-gksu-gksudo-or-launching-a-graphical-application-with-sudo-work-with-w) – N0rbert Dec 03 '17 at 15:41
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    synaptic-pkexec is how the "regular" synaptic has been run for quite some time. So your issues are local & not from pkexec per se. (- You can always run synaptic without root however package removal or install will not be possible. How about mentioning what release of Ubuntu or *buntu you are using.. – doug Dec 03 '17 at 15:41
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    @N0rbert It doesn't say anywhere in the question that the OP is using Wayland or 17.10. – karel Dec 03 '17 at 15:51
  • Dear OP could you please shade more light on your problem? What actions did you perform (write complete steps to reproduce)? On which Ubuntu version? Is it related to known [bug with launching pkexec'ed application on Wayland](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/1712089)? Please update your question with output of `cat /etc/lsb-release`, `apt-cache policy synaptic`, `id`. – N0rbert Dec 03 '17 at 16:05

1 Answers1

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Finding out about synaptic-pkexec is easy: 

w3@aardvark:~(1)$ locate synaptic-pkexec
/usr/bin/synaptic-pkexec
w3@aardvark:~(0)$ dpkg -S /usr/bin/synaptic-pkexec
synaptic: /usr/bin/synaptic-pkexec
w3@aardvark:~(0)$ dpkg -L synaptic | grep -E 'pkexec|man/|READ|doc'
/usr/bin/synaptic-pkexec
/usr/share/man/pt_BR
/usr/share/man/pt_BR/man8
/usr/share/man/pt_BR/man8/synaptic.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8
/usr/share/man/man8/synaptic.8.gz
/usr/share/man/tr
/usr/share/man/tr/man8
/usr/share/man/tr/man8/synaptic.8.gz
/usr/share/man/fr
/usr/share/man/fr/man8
/usr/share/man/fr/man8/synaptic.8.gz
/usr/share/man/es
/usr/share/man/es/man8
/usr/share/man/es/man8/synaptic.8.gz
/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.ubuntu.pkexec.synaptic.policy
/usr/share/doc
/usr/share/doc/synaptic
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/copyright
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/README.tasks
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/NEWS.gz
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/README.Debian
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/README.supported
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/TODO.gz
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/README
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/NEWS.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/synaptic/changelog.gz
w3@aardvark:~(0)$ file /usr/bin/synaptic-pkexec
/usr/bin/synaptic-pkexec: POSIX shell script, ASCII text executable

Lots of stuff for you to read, including /usr/bin/synaptic-pkexec: POSIX shell script, ASCII text executable, which is short enough to include here: 

#!/bin/sh
pkexec "/usr/sbin/synaptic" "$@"

But one question I have: Why, oh why, would you use a tool-in-a-box that you don't understand?

However, on further reading of your poorly formatted Q, I surmise that you are trying to run synaptic from a non-GUI session. synaptic is a GUI tool. apt, apt-get, aptitude are command line tools for packages.

N0rbert
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waltinator
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  • A lot of useless information. Not quite obvious, but I guess the OP wants synaptic and pkexec to present GUI sudo and receives console menu instead which does not work for them. – Konstantin Pelepelin Sep 07 '21 at 15:51