I previously just tried this under "su", but I fell into the trap that this looks at allow_inactive, not allow_active. Sorry about that.
I filed an upstream polkit bug to get access to this information, as this is IMHO the only clean way of fixing this. Until then, I suggest to either leave that bug open or always show the "Apply system-wide" buttons as that will at least make the functionality available (but it may not work for non-admins). ** Bug watch added: freedesktop.org Bugzilla #60103 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60103 ** Also affects: policykit via https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60103 Importance: Unknown Status: Unknown -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to language-selector in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1008344 Title: checks "admin" group membership instead of querying polkit Status in PolicyKit: Unknown Status in “language-selector” package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: In a new install of Ubuntu Precise, I cannot make any system-wide changes in the language selector (such as installing languages or clicking "Apply System-Wide"), only user-specific changes. All those controls for system-wide changes are greyed out, although my user does have sudo abilities and I would be able to enter the root password of the machine. The machine is freshly installed, but with customizations specific to our site, e.g. ldap authentication for users. Specifically, my user is an ldap user, not a local one, and there is a group in the ldap directory which was granted sudo capability by adding it to /etc/sudoers. My user is part of that group. sudo on the command line and gksudo work fine. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04 Package: language-selector-gnome 0.79 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16 Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8 Architecture: amd64 Date: Mon Jun 4 08:20:04 2012 PackageArchitecture: all ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_US: TERM=screen-256color PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: language-selector UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/policykit/+bug/1008344/+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