Replacing gksudo with pkexec: editor doesn't start in current folder

Solution 1:

As mentioned in comments, gksu was "orphaned" in 16.04 but you can still install it with:

sudo apt install gksu

That said I made a wrapper script for pkexec a long time ago that might be of some interest:

#!/bin/bash

# Usage: gsu gedit file1
#  -OR-  gsu natuilus /dirname

COMMAND="$1" # extract gedit or nautilus
ABSOLUTE_NAME=$(realpath "$2")

pkexec "$COMMAND" "$ABSOLUTE_NAME"

#log-file "$ABSOLUTE_NAME" ~/bin/log-gsu-"$COMMAND"

I named the wrapper gsu as a short form of gksu. The log-file script is a separate project which I commented out in the script for this answer.

You need to setup gedit and nautilus policy kits before you can use this script as the comments reference. In your case you would need to setup a policy kit for leafpad.

Hope this helps!

Solution 2:

I use this alternative in desktop launchers or bash scripts to keep the gksu feel:

bash -c 'sudo -i nautilus;'

... though no pkexec here - pls don't tell my admin.