Bug#1076728: elogind: privileged operation with polkit fails

[Mark Hindley]

Andrew,

I am afraid I still can't reproduce this.

Check some basics please. I have the following installed:

test at DebianUnstable:~$ dpkg -l|grep -E 'polkit|elogind|systemd'|grep ^ii
ii  elogind                              255.5-1debian3                     amd64        user, seat and session management daemon
ii  libpam-elogind:amd64                 255.5-1debian3                     amd64        elogind PAM module
ii  libpam-elogind-compat:amd64          1.3                                amd64        Compatibility package for testing integration of libpam-elogind into Debian
ii  libpolkit-agent-1-0:amd64            125-2                              amd64        polkit Authentication Agent API
ii  libpolkit-gobject-1-0:amd64          125-2                              amd64        polkit Authorization API
ii  polkitd                              125-2                              amd64        framework for managing administrative policies and privileges
ii  libsystemd0:amd64 			 257-2        			    amd64        systemd utility library

All lightdm* PAM configs should include common-session:

test at DebianUnstable:~$ grep common-session /etc/pam.d/lightdm*
/etc/pam.d/lightdm:@include common-session
/etc/pam.d/lightdm-autologin:@include common-session
/etc/pam.d/lightdm-greeter:@include common-session

PAM common-session should include pam_elogind.so:

test at DebianUnstable:~$ grep elogind /etc/pam.d/common-session
session optional                        pam_elogind.so 

With that, when you login you should have a valid session:

test at DebianUnstable:~$ loginctl
SESSION  UID USER    SEAT  TTY STATE   IDLE SINCE
      1 1000 test    seat0 -   active  no   -    
     c1  105 lightdm seat0 -   closing no   -    

2 sessions listed.

and that session can be used to gain privs (you might need to install pkexec)

test at DebianUnstable:~$ pkexec id
==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.policykit.exec ====
Authentication is needed to run `/usr/bin/id' as the super user
Authenticating as: Test User,,, (test)
Password: 
==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE ====
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)

All lightdm and xfce hibernate/restart/shutdown options are available and functional.

Which steps give you different results?

Mark