Getting rid of backuppc password protection.

Gary L. Roach

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Jul 16, 2022, 8:30:05 PM7/16/22

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Hi all,

Some time ago I installed backuppc and then decided to not use it. Even
though I purged the program and made sure that I deleted all
directories, I still get a backuppc password request when starting any
of my programs. Anyone had this problem and if so, do you know how to
get rid of it.

Gary R.

David

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Jul 16, 2022, 9:00:04 PM7/16/22

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Hi Gary.

People will be in a better position to advise you if you confirm
what method did you use to "install" it? Because there are
multiple possibilities and you give us no clues.

Did you use Debian tools (apt, apt-get, aptitude, synaptic)?
Or some other method?

And the same questions, but for "purge".

Asking because Debian makes great effort to ensure that
its tools work as intended when used as intended for this kind
of task. But if you didn't use the recommended tools in the
recommended manner, that can explain this kind of breakage,
and why your situation might be unique and thus require
additional description by you.

Gary L. Roach

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Jul 16, 2022, 10:20:05 PM7/16/22

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Sorry

I used apt install to install the standard debian package and used apt
purge to uninstall. Further, I used rm -r to clean up the directories
that were left. If it helps:

Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 11
KDE Plasma Version: 5.20.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.78.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.10.0-13-amd64
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 4 × AMD FX(tm)-4350 Quad-Core Processor
Memory: 15.6 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD CAICOS

Gary R

David Wright

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Jul 17, 2022, 12:30:06 AM7/17/22

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On Sat 16 Jul 2022 at 19:13:25 (-0700), Gary L. Roach wrote:
> On 7/16/22 5:51 PM, David wrote:

> > On Sun, 17 Jul 2022 at 10:24, Gary L. Roach wrote:
> >
> > > Some time ago I installed backuppc and then decided to not use it. Even
> > > though I purged the program and made sure that I deleted all
> > > directories, I still get a backuppc password request when starting any
> > > of my programs. Anyone had this problem and if so, do you know how to
> > > get rid of it.
> >

> > People will be in a better position to advise you if you confirm
> > what method did you use to "install" it? Because there are
> > multiple possibilities and you give us no clues.
> >
> > Did you use Debian tools (apt, apt-get, aptitude, synaptic)?
> > Or some other method?
> >
> > And the same questions, but for "purge".
> >
> > Asking because Debian makes great effort to ensure that
> > its tools work as intended when used as intended for this kind
> > of task. But if you didn't use the recommended tools in the
> > recommended manner, that can explain this kind of breakage,
> > and why your situation might be unique and thus require
> > additional description by you.
> >

> I used apt install to install the standard debian package and used apt
> purge to uninstall. Further, I used rm -r to clean up the directories
> that were left. If it helps:
>
> Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 11
> KDE Plasma Version: 5.20.5
> KDE Frameworks Version: 5.78.0
> Qt Version: 5.15.2
> Kernel Version: 5.10.0-13-amd64
> OS Type: 64-bit
> Processors: 4 × AMD FX(tm)-4350 Quad-Core Processor
> Memory: 15.6 GiB of RAM
> Graphics Processor: AMD CAICOS

Were I to install backuppc, 21 other packages would arrive with it
(including Recommends). Did you purge all those too?

Cheers,
David.

Nicolas George

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Jul 17, 2022, 5:10:06 AM7/17/22

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Gary L. Roach (12022-07-16):

Does it happen when you run your programs from the command line?

If yes, then use strace to see how your command is redirected.

If no, then you need to investigate whatever you use to run the
programs.

--
Nicolas George

signature.asc

Cindy Sue Causey

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Jul 17, 2022, 5:10:08 AM7/17/22

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On 7/17/22, David Wright <deb...@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote:
> On Sat 16 Jul 2022 at 19:13:25 (-0700), Gary L. Roach wrote:
>> I used apt install to install the standard debian package and used apt
>> purge to uninstall. Further, I used rm -r to clean up the directories
>> that were left. If it helps:
>>
>

> Were I to install backuppc, 21 other packages would arrive with it
> (including Recommends). Did you purge all those too?

Another route I might try if I'd been purging some and "rm -r" others
is to maybe reinstall then "apt get autoremove backuppc". That very
nicely picks out everything that came along with and is no longer
needed if backuppc is removed. I check autoremove's proposed list
carefully each time because some packages will try to remove the
desktop environment, for example.

Using autoremove comes from actually reading my terminal's entire
output when apt-get shows off a list of packages that are no longer
needed after upgrades make them obsolete. :)

Cindy :)
--
Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA
* runs with birdseed *

Gary L. Roach

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Jul 17, 2022, 2:20:05 PM7/17/22

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Thanks for the reply. No the problem doesn't occur when starting a
program from the command line. This finally lead me to two fixes. If you
dig down deep enough on the desktop icon properties (application ->
Advanced Options -> User) you can set the user to root. When this is
done a request for a password is presented on startup. Apparently this
was set by backuppc. I just unchecked the box and the problem is gone. I
also found a way to bypass the security lock on Dolphin so that I can
now use it on root files. Yes I know that is not safe but my system is
single user, in my home office and really doesn't include files that
would be a disaster to loose. Because of the work I do I am constantly
working with files that are owned by root and the inability to use
Dolphin has been a great pain.

Thanks again

Gary R