Version: (using KDE 4.4.2) OS: Linux Installed from: Ubuntu Packages Running Kubuntu Lucid Lynx Beta 1 with all updates (now Beta 2 I suppose...) I select the packages I want to install and click "Apply". The dialog "Waiting for Authentication" appears. No authentication dialog comes up. If I run "ksudo kpackagekit" then everything works fine--it does not prompt me for authentication. This problem began within the last 3-5 days. I grep'ed /var/log to see if there was any mention of 'kpackagekit' and I noticed that auth.log showed I had successfully authenticated on April 3. There was nothing after that. I can provide log snippets if needed ... I just need to know where to find them.
Usually I click "Close" or "Hide" to get rid of the dialog after a minute or two but this time I let it run ... it finally timed out with a message along the lines of "You have failed to provide correct authentication. Please check any passwords or account settings" and the details were "The authentication was cancelled due to timeout".
One other thing I noticed ... the package update functionality prompts for a password and proceeds just fine. I've so far only encountered this when selecting new packages.
I noticed that I get an application crash dialog when trying to set the time via the analog clock widget "unable to authenticate/execute the action: 6". I get an application crash dialog, and then I try to install the debugging symbols and it hangs waiting for authentication (like above). Is there some authentication service that is not started?
*** Bug 237098 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Update: this went away briefly after a fresh re-install of Kubuntu 10.04 (final), but after a few days it started again for no good reason. I opened an issue with Ubuntu as well; more details here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/policykit-kde/+bug/578833 I ended up adding some lines to the policy kit authorization configuration and now it doesn't prompt me for a password at all (since my user is in the "admin" group) but at least it doesn't hang...
Sorry for the delay in answering this. This isn't KPackageKit bug, and yet a PolicyKit-kde/KWin which afaik will be fixed in Kde 4.5. The problem is that the policykit dialog is another dialog that can only show up the first time it runs, the second one KWin prevents it from stealing focus.
Another important thing is that you MUST have polkit-kde-auth running in you session.
There is a work-around for this bug. When this bug occurs, KPackageKit shows a dialog that says "Waiting for Authentication". But unknown to the user, there is a second dialog box, hidden behind the main window of KPackageKit. This hidden dialog box is asking you to type in the root password. When you have typed in the password, KPackageKit can proceed. So if you see "Waiting for Authentication", and can't see a dialog asking for a root password, then minimize the main window, or move it. This will let you see the dialog asking you for a password. I have seen this bug in Kubuntu and Fedora.