Solved system settings error on KDE5

I get an error message when I try to change the background for the login screen or install new themes for it. The messages says I will not be allowed to save settings. I work around this by changing to root user in the properties menu for system settings and logging on as root. Shouldn't I be able to change these things as a regular user?
 
Are you using sddm? I no longer use sddm (I use startx from a text login instead), but when I did use sddm, I had similar problems, and dealt with them by editing /usr/local/etc/sddm.conf. It's not recommended to login to the desktop as root.
 
I log in as regular user. What I do as root is place a icon on the taskbar for system settings, right click on it and select properties from the pop up menu. I go to application -> advanced options -> and run as different user -> root. After I change things I reset the properties to normal. If I wanted to login in without sddm what would I have to have in my .xinitrc?
 
My .xinitrc contains:
Code:
setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch --exit-with-session startkde
I think at minimum you need to have:
Code:
exec startkde
So then you can just login to your primary non-root user account using the text login on any virtual console and then enter the command startx at the dollar sign prompt.
 
I use this at the tail end of my .profile file:
Code:
if [ ! -z "$LOGNAME" ]&&[ "`who am i |awk 'BEGIN{FS=" "}{printf("%s",$2)}'`" = "ttyv7" ]; then startx; fi
The "who am i" bit is unnecessary but it makes it so that it only works on virtual console ttyv7 which is what you get with CTRL ALT F8 at the console keyboard.
 
Could you direct me on where to learn more about .profile files? I'm still relatively new to FreeBSD and never heard of this before. I just did a brief keyword search on it and it seems very interesting. I don't recall seeing anything about this in the handbook. Is there another source, tutorial that I can check out?
 
My .xinitrc contains:
Code:
setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch --exit-with-session startkde
I think at minimum you need to have:
Code:
exec startkde
So then you can just login to your primary non-root user account using the text login on any virtual console and then enter the command startx at the dollar sign prompt.

If I use sddm (starting it from ttyv0 with sudo service sddm onestart) I do not see warnings like: org.kde.kmix: "kmix: could not read from mixer.". This warning I see when using startx from ttyv0.

My .xinitrc contains this:

Code:
KDE=/usr/local/bin/startkde
test -x $KDE && exec /usr/local/bin/ck-launch-session dbus-launch --exit-with-session $KDE

Just wondering.
 
I see a lot of warnings on ttyv7 but more or less ignore them unless I'm having problems. My impression has long been that using sddm or any other login manager simply hides these warnings from me, but I don't really know that for sure.

My main reason for discontinuing use of sddm is because it unnecessariliy uses a quite a bit of CPU and memory, particularly when apparently sitting idle at the graphical login screen. I want those resources to be available for apache and postgresql services instead, particularly when I'm not even using the desktop, which for a server would be most of the time.

Secondly, I also feel that graphical login managers like sddm pose unnecessary security compromises, by ( a.) exposing user account names, and ( b.) saving passwords somewhere (I don't know where) to support auto-login features I neither need nor want to use.
 
Does anyone have trouble changing the background images for the login screen? The message says that I am not allowed to save the configuration.
 
Still unable to change background for login screen as a regular user. Is there a configuration file that would allow me to do this with sddm?
 
I have the feeling this may have something to do with polkit. I need to get the system to display a prompt for a root password when I try to save the settings after changing the background, though I entered system settings as a regular user.
 
I found the solution to systemsettings not saving as regular user.

I saved the following as 49-allow-bygroup.conf in /usr/local/etc/polkit-1.rules.d :


// /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/49-allow-by-group.conf
// PolKit rules to allow mounting, rebooting and network management without password.
// User needs to be in storage, power and users groups.

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.freedesktop.udisks2.") && subject.isInGroup("storage")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.freedesktop.login1.") && subject.isInGroup("power")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.kde.kcontrol.kcmsddm.save") && subject.isInGroup("wheel")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.freedesktop.systemd.") && subject.isInGroup("wheel")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.freedesktop.upower.") && subject.isInGroup("power")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.freedesktop.kde") && subject.isInGroup("users")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.freedesktop.NetwormManager") && subject.isInGroup("users")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.match("org.freedesktop.ModemManager1") && subject.isInGroup("users")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});


Some areas I eliminated (systemd) but the line with "org.kde.kcontrol.kcmsddm.save" was what I needed. I can change login background and save as a regular user now.
 
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