SUMMARY Sending signals to processes owned by a different user (e.g. root) doesn't work. KSysGuard did support this feature - it would ask for a root password to gain permissions. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. In the process list, select a process running under a different user, e.g. root. 2. Right click and Send Signal -> SIGKILL. OBSERVED RESULT Nothing happens, the process keeps running. EXPECTED RESULT System Monitor should show the standard dialog for entering the root password, then the signal should be sent to the process. SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Operating System: Kubuntu 22.04 KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.4 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0 Qt Version: 5.15.3 Kernel Version: 5.15.0-46-lowlatency (64-bit) Graphics Platform: X11 Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-4700HQ CPU @ 2.40GHz Memory: 15.5 GiB of RAM Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 4600
This seems to work for me, when I request to send a signal to a root or other user's processes, I correctly get the dialog requesting my root password. Note that this is implemented using polkit, can you verify that your setup in that regard is correct? Also make sure you have the file /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.kde.ksysguard.processlisthelper.policy as that is what defines which actions are allowed.
(In reply to Arjen Hiemstra from comment #1) > This seems to work for me, when I request to send a signal to a root or > other user's processes, I correctly get the dialog requesting my root > password. I have two systems. On one of the systems, I do get a password dialog and the signal is sent (at least, SIGKILL is - the process dies). On the other system, when I select SIGKILL in the context menu, I get a System Monitor confirmation dialog "Are you sure you want to end this process?". When I press End, nothing happens - no password dialog, signal not sent. This confirmation dialog is only shown for SIGKILL and SIGTERM, for other signals simply nothing happens. On the first system, I do not get this confirmation dialog. Not for SIGKILL/SIGTERM, not for other signals. > Note that this is implemented using polkit, can you verify that your setup > in that regard is correct? I didn't do anything to polkit, not knowingly anyway. What exactly should I check? > Also make sure you have the file > /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.kde.ksysguard.processlisthelper.policy as > that is what defines which actions are allowed. Yes, I have that file. On both systems.
Can you run this in a terminal and paste the output: pkcheck -a org.kde.ksysguard.processlisthelper.sendsignal -u -p $(pidof plasmashell) | echo $?
(In reply to Arjen Hiemstra from comment #3) > Can you run this in a terminal and paste the output: > > pkcheck -a org.kde.ksysguard.processlisthelper.sendsignal -u -p $(pidof > plasmashell) | echo $? The command opens a root password dialog. After entering the password, the dialog closes. The console output is "0".
I can confirm it works for me. Given it also works on one of your two machines it points towards a setup issue of stray files or broken polkit. Please confirm if this is still an issue on a newer release.
(In reply to David Edmundson from comment #5) > I can confirm it works for me. Given it also works on one of your two > machines it points towards a setup issue of stray files or broken polkit. > > Please confirm if this is still an issue on a newer release. This is still not resolved for me, the problem reproduces. I cannot test the newer KDE until the next Kubuntu LTS release. If you think this is a setup issue then please let me know how to diagnose it. The previous tests show that polkit is working.
I'm still not able to reproduce this on git-master, or on Kubuntu 25.04. If you still are experiencing this bug with Kubuntu 24.04, I recommend reporting it via the Kubuntu issue tracker https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kubuntu/Bugs/Reporting Thanks for your understanding.