If you are interested, I have created a simple workaround for this problem. The how-to is described in the following forum post.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12071894&postcount=81 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gedit in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/796076 Title: When run as root [gksudo gedit <whatever>] gedit tries to open a 2nd 'untitled document 1' Status in Light-Weight Text Editor for Gnome: New Status in “gedit” package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: Binary package hint: gedit Ex. gksudo gedit /etc/fstab will open fstab successfully but will also try to open "Untitled Document 1" at the same time If just running gksudo gedit than you'll get "Untitled Document 1" that never does fully open (become writable == Regression details == Discovered in version: 3.0.4-0ubuntu2 Last known good version: 2.30.4-2ubuntu1 ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10 Package: gedit 3.0.4-0ubuntu2 [modified: usr/share/applications/gedit.desktop] ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-9.43lp760131v201106060906-generic 2.6.38.7 Uname: Linux 2.6.38-9-generic i686 NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia Architecture: i386 Date: Sat Jun 11 19:11:08 2011 InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1) ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_US:en PATH=(custom, user) LANG=en_US.utf8 LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: gedit UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/gedit/+bug/796076/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp