[arch-general] coping with damaging updates

[Leonid Isaev]

On (10/28/11 12:24), Mick wrote:
-~> On Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:24:13 -0500
-~> Leonid Isaev <lisaev at umail.iu.edu> wrote:
-~> 
-~> > On (10/27/11 17:49), Mick wrote:
-~> > -~> Following yet another update that has disabled user control of USB
-~> > -~> sticks, cameras, etc. and blocked user from shutting down from the
-~> > -~> desktop (in my case xfce4), I am at the end of my tether.
-~> > -~> 
-~> > -~> Is there some way to be fore-warned of these updates coming
-~> > online and -~> avoid them or be ready with clear info on how to
-~> > repair the damage they -~> are set to create.
-~> > -~> 
-~> > -~> mick
-~> > 
-~> > OK, which update you are talking about?
-~> I'm not sure, I usually run pacman -Syu about 3 weeks apart and there
-~> are usually many updates to apply.
-~> 
-~> > 
-~> > Shutdown problems probably come from upower. Your user would loose
-~> > control of external devices only if you were in the storage/disk
-~> > groups. Adding youself to these groups was your mistake, since unless
-~> > you understand what you are doing, you should let console-kit do the
-~> > permission granting. In fact, on a modern linux system you only have
-~> > to be a member of 1 group: users.
-~> 
-~> I'm currently in the following groups:
-~> 

So, basically, you added your user to every group possible?

-~> disk - not sure why

You'd better figure it out.

-~> lp - to get around printer problems
-~> wheel - the beginners guide insisted

Beginners' guide is not a bible.

-~> log - after an update destroyed my root GUI session
-~> locate - I had some reason, can't remember now

Makes no sense, because your user must not touch update DB, it's the job for
cron or occasionally root.

-~> http - facilitate editing of website
-~> video - don't know

The same as for disk.

-~> audio - couldn't play music until I added 

Totally wrong reason, since you have console-kit running.

-~> optical, storage no usbstick or cd/dvd access without it

Again, the reasoning makes no sense.

-~> scanner camera - same thing with camera and scanner

I have to check, but I don't think that you need to be a member of scanner
unless you want to scan over a network.

-~> power - fixed a previous occurrence of this problem

Membership in power lets you hibernate/suspend (pm-utils), but not
shutdown/reboot. You seem to have policykit issues.

-~> users - default
-~> wireshark - obvious
-~> > 
-~> > How do you start your desktop and do you have ck-launch-session
-~> > running?
-~> ininttab runlevel 5 ==> xdm
-~> 
-~> exec ck-launch-session startxfce4
-~> 

Do you have dbus in your DAEMONS, like this:
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng microcode irqbalance cpufreq dbus...)? Otherwise xfce4 will
not work.

-~> This has been a frequently recurring problem since I first install Arch
-~> about feb 2009, and the solution has never been the same
-~> 

Because you have to clean your installation once in a while. I am quite
surprised your system even booted.

-~> mick
-~> 
-~> PS I apologize if my inherent paranoia is showing.

-- 
Leonid Isaev
GnuPG key ID: 164B5A6D
Key fingerprint: C0DF 20D0 C075 C3F1 E1BE  775A A7AE F6CB 164B 5A6D
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