Re: [gentoo-user] Re: KDE slow / console-kit-daemon POLKIT_IS_AUTHORITY failed

[Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk>]

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On Thu, 16 Jan 2014 10:19:22 -0600, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:

> > > Helmut is still using consolekit.  Are you still using consolekit?  
> >
> > Yes, it's the default for kdm so it is enabled on both computers.  
> 
> I don't think it will be the default for much longer; it's unmaintained
> code which sooner or later will start to bitrot. Unless someone steps in
> and starts taking care of it.

Quite likely, but for now it is the default and in use on both systems in
question.

> > > I have no idea if consolekit is relevant here, but Canek has been
> > > telling us that consolekit is abandonware and we should stop
> > > depending on it.  
> >
> > That's part of the drive to put everything in systemd, which I do not
> > use.  
> 
> Fact is, nobody is maintaining ck; from its homepage[1]:
> 
> "ConsoleKit is currently not actively maintained. The focus has shifted
> to the built-in seat/user/session management of Software/systemd called
> systemd-logind!"

That's what I was paraphrasing above. I checked the latest status on that
page before replying.

> That message has been there for months; in general ck kinda still works,
> although it never really solved the problem of properly tracking user
> sessions, which is why everybody involved with it quickly jumped ship to
> logind, where the problem is properly solved.

The issue for many is that logind is so closely tied to systemd.

> However, as the interfaces in the stack evolves, unmaintained code like
> ck will simply stop to work. ConsoleKit uses dbus heavily, and with the
> introduction of kdbus[2] and the inevitable changes that will happen to
> dbus, combined with nobody taking care of ck, I don't think it will keep
> working much longer.

That's a reasonable prediction.
> 
> Ubuntu and Debian (now that is seriously discussing which modern init
> system to use) have been discussing an alternative, API compatible
> implementation of logind, but I don't know if it has got nowhere. I
> think that has more future than ck, but again, nobody (AFAIK) has
> stepped in and do the heavy coding.

Leaving aside my concerns about systemd, I am not happy with the "all
eggs in one basket" direction things seem to be taking. Whatever happened
to tolls doing one job and doing it well?

> Independently, though, I think is safe to say that ConsoleKit is a dead
> end.

In the future, most probably. but right now it is the preferred option
for KDM.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

I spilled Spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.

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