gksu and server

gksu and server

[Michael Heerdegen]

Hi,

I used to start a graphical Emacs for other user (Debian here btw) from
a running X session with gksu, an su frontend.  Since some days,
starting the Emacs server from such an Emacs instance fails with

  signal(file-error ("Creating directory" "Permission denied" "/run/user/1000/emacs"))
  files--ensure-directory("/run/user/1000/emacs")
  make-directory("/run/user/1000/emacs" t)
  server-ensure-safe-dir("/run/user/1000/emacs")
  server-start(nil inhibit-prompt)

User 1000 is the one owning the X session - i.e. the wrong one.

I dunno what makes the difference.  Does anyone know why this could be
happening?


Thanks,

Michael

Re: gksu and server

[tomas]

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On Wed, Dec 05, 2018 at 06:07:34PM +0100, Michael Heerdegen wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I used to start a graphical Emacs for other user (Debian here btw) from
> a running X session with gksu, an su frontend.  Since some days,
> starting the Emacs server from such an Emacs instance fails with
> 
>   signal(file-error ("Creating directory" "Permission denied" "/run/user/1000/emacs"))
>   files--ensure-directory("/run/user/1000/emacs")
>   make-directory("/run/user/1000/emacs" t)
>   server-ensure-safe-dir("/run/user/1000/emacs")
>   server-start(nil inhibit-prompt)
> 
> User 1000 is the one owning the X session - i.e. the wrong one.
> 
> I dunno what makes the difference.  Does anyone know why this could be
> happening?

Uh-oh. It looks like Emacs trying to start a server (probably running as
a different user, because of gksu, but probably inheriting something
magical from your environment, because it's trying to hit /run/user/1000).

To me it looks like desktop environment conventions getting tangled up
in their own red tape.

I don't use a DE, so I can't be of much help. But to answer a question
you haven't posed (soory ;-): have you tried Tramp's /sudo:<user@host>:/path/to/file?

Since I learnt that I've no need to start Emacs under another UID anymore...

Cheers
-- t 

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Re: gksu and server

[Glenn Morris]

Michael Heerdegen wrote:

>   signal(file-error ("Creating directory" "Permission denied"
> "/run/user/1000/emacs"))

I imagine due to
http://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-diffs/2018-12/msg00010.html

> User 1000 is the one owning the X session - i.e. the wrong one.

Re: gksu and server

[Michael Heerdegen]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

> I imagine due to
> http://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-diffs/2018-12/msg00010.html

Hmm, seems so, thanks.

Michael.

Re: gksu and server

[Michael Heerdegen]

<tomas@tuxteam.de> writes:

> To me it looks like desktop environment conventions getting tangled up
> in their own red tape.

I use a window manager (openbox) without a desktop environment.

As Glenn noted, it happens because of this:
http://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-diffs/2018-12/msg00010.html

For now I fixed it by setting server-socket-dir in .emacs but it's not
good that one needs to do this.

Michael.

Re: gksu and server

[tomas]

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On Wed, Dec 05, 2018 at 07:56:54PM +0100, Michael Heerdegen wrote:
> <tomas@tuxteam.de> writes:
> 
> > To me it looks like desktop environment conventions getting tangled up
> > in their own red tape.
> 
> I use a window manager (openbox) without a desktop environment.
> 
> As Glenn noted, it happens because of this:
> http://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-diffs/2018-12/msg00010.html

A-hah. My Emacs was too old (Nov 27). Sorry for the noise.

That means it might hit me soon, too. So thanks for the heads-up.

Cheers
-- tomás

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