NAME

       gksu - GTK+ frontend for su and sudo

SYNOPSIS

       gksu

       gksu [-u <user>] [options] <command>

       gksudo [-u <user>] [options] <command>

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page documents briefly gksu and gksudo

       gksu  is  a  frontend  to su and gksudo is a frontend to sudo.  Their primary purpose is to run graphical
       commands that need root without the need to run an X terminal emulator and using su directly.

       Notice that all the magic is done by the underlying library, libgksu. Also notice that the  library  will
       decide  if  it should use su or sudo as backend using the /apps/gksu/sudo-mode gconf key, if you call the
       gksu command. You can force the backend by using the gksudo command, or  by  using  the  --sudo-mode  and
       --su-mode options.

       If no command is given, the gksu program will display a small window that allows you to type in a command
       to be run, and to select what user the program should be run as. The other options are disregarded, right
       now, in this mode.

OPTIONS

       --debug, -d

              Print information on the screen that might be useful for diagnosing and/or solving problems.

       --user <user>, -u <user>

              Call <command> as the specified user.

       --disable-grab, -g

              Disable  the  "locking"  of  the  keyboard,  mouse,  and focus done by the program when asking for
              password.

       --prompt, -P

              Ask the user if they want to have their keyboard and mouse grabbed before doing so.

       --preserve-env, -k

              Preserve the current environments, does not set $HOME nor $PATH, for example.

       --login, -l

              Make this a login shell. Beware this may cause problems with the Xauthority magic.  Run  xhost  to
              allow the target user to open windows on your display!

       --description <description|file>, -D <description|file>

              Provide  a  descriptive  name  for the command to be used in the default message, making it nicer.
              You can also provide the absolute path for a .desktop file. The Name key for will be used in  this
              case.

       --message <message>, -m <message>

              Replace  the  standard  message  shown  to ask for password for the argument passed to the option.
              Only use this if --description does not suffice.

       --print-pass, -p

              Ask gksu to print the password to stdout, just like ssh-askpass. Useful to  use  in  scripts  with
              programs that accept receiving the password on stdin.

       --su-mode, -w

              Force gksu to use su(1) as its backend for running the programs.

       --sudo-mode, -S

              Force gksu to use sudo(1) as its backend for running the programs.

SEE ALSO

       su(1), sudo(1)