Bug 507939 - Password requested for each update category
Summary: Password requested for each update category
Status: RESOLVED DOWNSTREAM
Alias: None
Product: Discover
Classification: Applications
Component: discover (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 6.3.4
Platform: Kubuntu Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-08-06 12:01 UTC by Dexter Magnific
Modified: 2025-08-28 15:19 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

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Description Dexter Magnific 2025-08-06 12:01:17 UTC
SUMMARY

When updates are available from multiple categories (e.g. snap + apt), updating will request root password when updating each category

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. ensure there are updates from multiple caategories (e.g. firefox from snap + regular packages from apt)
2. select all
3. update

OBSERVED RESULT
password asked twice, one for updating snap packages, another for apt packages

EXPECTED RESULT
password cached and asked once

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Kubuntu 25.04
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.12.0
Qt Version: 6.8.3
Kernel Version: 6.14.0-27-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 4 × 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 10,7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: llvmpipe
Manufacturer: innotek GmbH
Product Name: VirtualBox
System Version: 1.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This is a long standing issue for now. Please don't close saying I'm not using the latest software. Distro packages are always late. I get all my bugs closed because of this but still they are always present in newer software. Please investigate.
Comment 1 Bug Janitor Service 2025-08-06 12:33:40 UTC
Thank you for the bug report!

However Plasma 6.3.4 no longer receives updates or maintenance from KDE; active versions are 6.4 or newer. Please upgrade to an active version as soon as your distribution makes it available to you. Plasma is a fast-moving project, and bugs in one version are often fixed in the next one.

If you need help with Plasma 6.3.4, please contact your distribution, who bears the responsibility of providing help for older releases that are no longer receiving updates from KDE.

If you can reproduce the issue after upgrading to an active version, feel free to re-open this bug report.
Comment 2 Nate Graham 2025-08-26 21:47:20 UTC
The decision about which operations that require authentication get auto-accepted for you (to prevent annoying experiences like the one you're experiencing here) is something that's up to distros, not KDE. You'll need to bring this up to the Kubuntu folks and recommend that they adjust the polkit rules they ship.

Side note:
> This is a long standing issue for now. Please don't close saying I'm not using the latest software.
> Distro packages are always late.
Packages are only late when using a distro that deliberately doesn't ship up-to-date software, and that's a major problem for KDE. We always want to encourage people to be using the latest version, not some random version that was released months or years ago that no developer is still using and isn't eligible for any more bug-fix releases.

> I get all my bugs closed because of this but still they are always present in newer software. Please investigate.
How do you know the bugs you're reporting against an older version aren't fixed already in a newer one if you aren't using it?

If literally every single bug report you submit against an old version is indeed still present in a newer one, you're a very lucky person. Unfortunately my experience as the person who has triaged the most bug reports in all of KDE for the past 8 years shows otherwise, that the majority of bugs reported against old versions are already fixed, with the likelihood rising the older the version is.
Comment 3 Dexter Magnific 2025-08-27 18:20:36 UTC
Hi Nate,

Thank you for clarifying that password request is a distro specific tuning. I'll try to reach out Kubuntu people so that they can look at this annoying behavior.

Regarding package age, as a user (not a developer) I can't build the latest versions as I rely only on distro packages. I hope you understand.
The fact that the "Bug Janitor service" closes every reported bug because it is related to an old version (old is relative I think, ubuntu packages seem to me that they are quite recent) prevents developers from checking them. And yes I do have a few annoying bugs in my hand that are present since years now and get closed automatically everytime I submit them, so they stay unfixed.
Comment 4 Nate Graham 2025-08-28 15:19:26 UTC
Unfortunately Ubuntu packages are usually not very recent. If you use the LTS version they can be up to 3 years behind. If you don't, they can be 6 months to 1 year behind. It's just not helpful to receive a torrent of bug reports about issues that are mostly already fixed.

If you have persistent bugs that keep happening over the years and are very likely not fixed in the latest version, and you're a technically competent person, you're welcome to lie to the bug reporter and enter a newer version, then change it back to an older one. That should keep the bug janitor from auto-closing the report.