Running an application with root privileges at Linux

Is there any standard way (that applies to all Linux distributions), a GUI application (X.Org/Gnome/KDE) to ask for the root password so as to execute with root privileges?


Software examples that do this:

Synaptic at Ubuntu.

Yumex at Fedora.


I am writing a free and open source program (http://www.cpp-software.net/software.html), and I call Ubuntu's "gksudo" from within the program, but I prefer a portable way, that applies to all Linux with X.Org distributions.


Thanks.

As far as I know, on KDE you have kdesu and under Gnome you have gksudo.
At program start you could check which one is available.

To be 100% portable you have to implement it yourself.
I think you could do that by asking in a form for the root password. After that you start your own subprocess using QProcess and do something like:
su <process_needing_root_access>

Read the QProcess docs to learn how to cummunicate with the subprocess so you can enter the root password to satisfy the su-command.

Thanks for your reply.

However "su" does not work in Ubuntu.

Edit: And gksudo does not exist in Fedora 10, with GNOME installed as the default window manager.

Try "sudo" then.

sudo does not work by default, in some Linux distributions too, like Fedora 10, where su works.

sudo is a more or less standard Linux tool, so it should be configurable on every Linux-box. When it isn't, then maybe the environment is not worth writing software for at all...?;)
Anyway, your problem has been reduced to something that is not a Qt-problem.
Maybe you should try distro-specific forums?
But be sure to post your solution here, too! :D