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)