Timeshift doesn’t work with Antix ?

[Member oops]

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Xecure wrote:

redshift is not timeshift

Haa yes soo sorry for the confusion… I also use Timeshift with:
su root
timeshift-launcher &

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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sudo timeshift-launcher 
First run mode (config file not found)
Selected default snapshot type: RSYNC
App config loaded: /etc/timeshift.json
Selected default snapshot device: /dev/sda1

Added cron task: /etc/cron.d/timeshift-hourly
App config saved: /etc/timeshift.json

Do you have policykit-1 installed? (I don’t)

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member Xecure]

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@anticapitalista
You are correct. This is probably the issue. It may be because of something I did. When removing policykit-1, it also tries to remove fskbsetting* modem-manager-gui* from my system.

Right now I can only launch it with sudo/gksu timeshift-launcher (but that is not what is in the .desktop file).

I will try from a clean iso of antiX 19.3 full and report back.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member Xecure]

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Back again on a live antiX 19.3 full fully upgraded. policykit is included by default

$ apt list --installed | grep policykit
policykit-1/buster,now 0.105-29+antix1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

And launching timeshift from the menu doesn’t work, (and same error if launching from terminal without sudo).

If I remove policykit, Timeshift DOES launch from both menu, App-select and terminal without sudo.

So, as you correctly guessed, anticapitalista, policykit-1 is to blame. The problem is that it is included by default in antiX 19.3 (full and base), so users that want timeshift to run need to:
A) Remove policykit-1 (and fskbsetting* gufw-legacy* modem-manager-gui*)
or
B) Change the .desktop launcher

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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What if you install polkit-1-gnome and enable polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 in ~/.desktop-session/start file?

No – that doesn’t work.

So, edit (as root) /usr/share/applications/timeshift-gtk.desktop and change line 3 to sudo timeshift-launcher

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by anticapitalista. Reason: extra info

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member Xecure]

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anticapitalista wrote:

What if you install polkit-1-gnome and enable polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 in ~/.desktop-session/start file?

It did work.
sudo apt install policykit-1-gnome
Then uncommented in ~/.desktop-session/startup
/usr/lib/policykit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &
Then restarted the session and got it to work (from menu, app-select and terminal, it promps a window and asking for the ROOT password).

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by Xecure.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member olsztyn]

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anticapitalista wrote:

I installed it and it showed up in the IceWM menu under Applications > System > Timeshift.
I clicked on it and it opened roxterm and prompted a sudo (username) password.

Out of curiosity (Although I happen to like ISO-Snapshot) I just installed Timeshift through Synaptic and it installed with no issue. Launching works as well, although I do have policykit-1 installed (this was to make VMware work some time ago, but this is irrelevant for this thread).
However in gui of Timeshift the ‘Create’ function is grayed out. Just allows to ‘Restore’.
Would this be another manifestation of Timeshift issue?

Update:
My oversight. It appears that ‘Create’ function is grayed out (disabled) for Live USB by design in Timeshift… Does not make sense but seems the case…

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by olsztyn.

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

[Member olsztyn]

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olsztyn wrote:

It appears that ‘Create’ function is grayed out (disabled) for Live USB by design in Timeshift… Does not make sense but seems the case…

This irrational restriction alone makes Timeshift useless (in my opinion at least) comparing to ISO-Snapshot, which works fine…

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

[Anonymous]

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“gksuperdudo … and it worked”
In the case of timeshift, if its “action(s) definition file” contains only one default rule, the apparent success would probably be accurate. However, in the case of programs where the action file contains multiple rules, bear in mind that sudo only “works” to supplant the default rule governing who may launch the program.

(from menu, app-select and terminal, it promps a window and asking for the ROOT password).

man pkexec
is probably a good (relatively quick) place to start reading, toward understanding the policykit machinations.

man polkit
provides a bit more detail than the pkexec manpage, and (IMO) should be regarded as Required Reading both for sysadmins and for any user who has (or, past tense, had) been granted sudo privileges. Hopefully we will seldom, if ever, want or need to customize the as-packaged rules for a given program but it is important for us to understand that multiple, granular, rules may be at play in governing the behavior(s) of a particular program. Example: synaptic ~~ as packaged, any user can launch the program but, during runtime, a re-auth is performed prior to any add/remove/purge operation… and such operations will fail, if (per the policy specified in the action rules file) synaptic has not been launched by a suitably-permissioned account. Disclaimer: I’m describing that from foggy memory ~~ instead of failing, a given app (perhaps not synaptic though) may be coded to popup an authorization dialogbox if the app wasn’t launched by a user having sufficient permissions. (Or, as reported regarding Timeshift, disabled aka “greyed out”.)

Each deb package that provides a program which utilizes (aka depends on) policykit auth should install an associated “action(s) definition file”. Here the word “should” instead of “must” just indicates that I’m unsure whether debian packaging policy specifies “must”.

/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/
This is the location where “policykit action definition files” (are expected to) reside.
A sysadmin (or a distroteer) may want to edit one/several of thes files, in order to customize the rules governing the action(s) associated with a given program. Bear in mind though, files which were installed by a package are subject to being overwritten during package upgrades (so backup any edited files and/or use dpkg-divert to guard them).

The policykit actions files can be viewed/edited in a text editor.
The structure of their content is xsl/xml -ish; the indentation of nested elements is optional (indentation intended to haha ‘facilitate’ reading).

an authentication-agent (e.g. provided by package lxpolkit or mate-polkit or policykit-1-gnome) is running and
“asking for the ROOT password”
and when we inspect the content of the ‘in.teejeetech.timeshift.blahblah’ actions definition file, we can (er “should be able to”) see/understand why

______
howto to access full polkit documentation:
sudo apt install policykit-1-doc
then, via web browser, /usr/share/doc/policykit-1-doc/html/index.html

[Anonymous]

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This irrational restriction alone makes Timeshift useless

Is it “better” to have an auth mechanism which outright requires launching synaptic “as root”, or fails…

…or an auth mechanism which permits anyone to launch synaptic, but only permits privileged accounts to add/purge packages?

For me, on my system(s), embracing the former has resulted in a lesser suppport burden.
(Avoids “hey why my synaptic is broke? plz fix”)
On your system(s), in your usage, that approach might not be a good fit.

For a program like Timeshift, which is intended primarily for an audience of desktop users on single-user systems…

Hold on, are we presuming too much?

TeeJee hopes to earn a living via his software development labor.
The latest version(s) of Timeshift, are they even still open source?
IIRC, the “free” older versions of one or several of his programs remain available but are explicitly unsupported.

Probably TeeJee’s intended primary audience (userbase) is not what you might have presumed.
Probably the out-of-the-box rules are less “irrational” if you consider the likely (corporate sysadmins) intended primary audience, eh.

[Member olsztyn]

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Anonymous wrote:

Probably TeeJee’s intended primary audience (userbase) is not what you might have presumed.
Probably the out-of-the-box rules are less “irrational” if you consider the likely (corporate sysadmins) intended primary audience, eh.

All excellent observations…
Thanks for the insight.

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

[Anonymous]

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Following this link, https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-gksu-2189402,
it’s also dangerous to use gksudo (unmaintained since 2014, PoliciKit….)
and we have to use command lines. Not very practical.

I cannot rehash here all that I have previously posted on this subject.

At least click this project repository link: https://gitlab.com/skidoo/gksu
and understand that

1) the (version of) gksu detailed in the lifewire article is not the same version as that provided in antiX.

2) per the gitlab link, specific to the version used in antiX, “unmaintained since 2014” is obviously untrue.

3) in antiX19, “gksudo” (as well as “su-to-root -X”) are aliased commandstrings, both point to gksu

dangerous?
If someone manages to find a vulnerability in antiX gksu… please know that I certainly hope you will report it !

unmaintained? no.
Under active development? What remains to be “developed”???

To read further antiX-specific info regarding gksu, or to place a followup post,
refer to the existing forum topic:
https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/patched-gksu-libgksu-available/

[Member Wallon]

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For your information, if I use this command line to check “policykit”, I receive a Warning. I don’t know if my operating system (Antix 19.3 Full) has a problem ?

an@ASUS:~
$ apt list --installed | grep policykit

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

policykit-1/buster,now 0.105-29+antix1 amd64  [installé, automatique]
an@ASUS:~

[Member Wallon]

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I have tested my first backup with Timeshift but I receive also some warnings regarding GTK.

an@ASUS:~
$ sudo timeshift-launcher
[sudo] Mot de passe de an : 
Configuration chargée: /etc/timeshift.json
Configuration sauvegardée: /etc/timeshift.json

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Création d'un nouvel instantané...(RSYNC)
Enregistrement sur le périphérique: /dev/sdc1, monté sur le chemin: /media/an/BackupAntix-2
Synchronisation des fichiers avec rsync en cours...
 16,42% complet (00:34:56 restant)
(timeshift-gtk:17036): Gtk-WARNING **: 00:50:37.696: Failed to set text '\xa0\u0017' from markup due to error parsing markup: Error on line 1 char 11: Invalid UTF-8 encoded text in name — not valid “\xa0\u0017”
 42,90% complet (00:14:46 restant)
(timeshift-gtk:17036): Gtk-WARNING **: 00:54:53.601: Failed to set text '\xe0\u0017' from markup due to error parsing markup: Error on line 1 char 11: Invalid UTF-8 encoded text in name — not valid “\xe0\u0017”
 57,95% complet (00:08:46 restant)
(timeshift-gtk:17036): Gtk-WARNING **: 00:55:52.566: Failed to set text '\xa0\u0017' from markup due to error parsing markup: Error on line 1 char 11: Invalid UTF-8 encoded text in name — not valid “\xa0\u0017”
102,16% complet (00:00:00 restant)
(timeshift-gtk:17036): Gtk-WARNING **: 00:58:59.189: Failed to set text '\xa0\u0017' from markup due to error parsing markup: Error on line 1 char 11: Invalid UTF-8 encoded text in name — not valid “\xa0\u0017”
Fichier de contrôle créé: /media/an/BackupAntix-2/timeshift/snapshots/2021-01-22_00-43-46/info.json
RSYNC Le cliché a été sauvegardé avec succés (923s)
Instantantanés étiquetés '2021-01-22_00-43-46': ondemand
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXEC(/usr/share/applications/vim.tiny.desktop)=desktop-defaults-run -t vim %F
EXEC(/usr/share/applications/vim.tiny.desktop)=desktop-defaults-run -t vim %F
EXEC(/usr/share/applications/vim.tiny.desktop)=desktop-defaults-run -t vim %F
EXEC(/usr/share/applications/vim.tiny.desktop)=desktop-defaults-run -t vim %F
Configuration sauvegardée: /etc/timeshift.json
an@ASUS:~

I have deleted an AppImage and tried to do a restore.
It works but I have some problems regarding inodes and times …. Antix launch a king of check disk to repare the installation.
It’s not possible to put here the terminal output because there is an automatic reboot after the restore.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by Wallon.

[Member oops]

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Wallon wrote:

I have tested my first backup with Timeshift but I receive also some warnings regarding GTK.
…
It works but I have some problems regarding inodes and times …. Antix launch a king of check disk to repare the installation.
It’s not possible to put here the terminal output because there is an automatic reboot after the restore.

Maybe the rsync version need to be newer than the actual antix one, lot of bugs have been fixed from v3.1.3 to 3.2.3:

chroot> rsync --version
rsync  version 3.1.3  protocol version 31

https://rsync.samba.org/

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