Ubuntu Mate 24.04.4 users manager does not retain groups properties

[madpentiste]

Under Ubuntu Mate 24.04.4, group modifications made with graphical tool mate-user-admin are lost upon closing the group management window.

To reproduce :

1. launch mate-user-admin
2. select any user
3. unlock with your password
4. click the button <groups management> or equivalent
5. make any change to the group list
6. close that window
7. click the <groups management> button again : your changes are lost

In order to overcome this problem, I uninstalled mate-user-admin and installed instead gnome-system-tools (which used to be the group manager provided by Ubuntu-Mate older versions). This latter works fine, I do not understand why another manager was developed, with the exact same functions but bugs. In my opinion, tools that work fine and are easy to use should be preserved at all cost !!

[stephematician]

Most MATE tools are replacements for (or even forks of) GNOME tools because MATE was meant to be a continuation of the GNOME 2 desktop environment - which went in a new direction with GNOME 3. So its not surprising at all that there are duplicated efforts.

[tkn]

@madpentiste

installed instead gnome-system-tools (which used to be the group manager provided by Ubuntu-Mate older versions). This latter works fine, I do not understand why another manager was developed

Security reasons, but only in some cases. Read the following mail and its follow-ups:

Add a user account on Ubuntu MATE 22.04

Hi, @nyx_fr (XIBE) (Usual disclaimer: please note that I'm just another Forum user here, I'm NOT an Ubuntu Developer and/or Ubuntu MATE Developer). You've asked: In April 2022, there was the following related discussion started by @JokerGermany regarding Ubuntu MATE 22.04 LTS ("Jammy Jellyfish"): In that discussion, @franksmcb (Bill) started by replying the following: ... and then he added the following explanation: ... where he mentioned the following Bug in Launchpa…

[madpentiste]

Point well understood here, and I have an absolute recognition of all efforts done for Mate ! But unfortunately the Mate version has bugs. Perhaps a duplicate of the gnome version, with minimal rewriting, would have done the job ? Just a suggestion !!
Regards
Madpentise

[tkn]

@madpentiste

Perhaps a duplicate of the gnome version, with minimal rewriting, would have done the job ? Just a suggestion

You're welcome to give it a try, you can download the source from the repository.

[stephematician]

Best place to report bugs is on either Launchpad or upstream in the package developers source repository.

Luckily for you, I've done both for you - but there's still something you can do:

• On Launchpad: Bug #2142569 “Cannot update group in mate-user-admin” : Bugs : mate-user-admin package : Ubuntu
  It would be helpful to add that you have been impacted by this bug as it'll get more attention that way.
• On GitHub: Cannot change groups Ubuntu MATE 24.04 · Issue #65 · zhuyaliang/user-admin · GitHub
  Doesn't hurt to add your experience there, too, if you have a GitHub account.

[madpentiste]

@madpentiste

installed instead gnome-system-tools (which used to be the group manager provided by Ubuntu-Mate older versions). This latter works fine, I do not understand why another manager was developed

Here, when I say “ I do not understand why another manager was developed”, I speak development strategy, not code writing.

At a time when Ubuntu Mate developers are not certain to be able to release a LTS version this coming April (26.04 might not be ‘LTS’), it might be good to think strategy, and work on the minimal set of packages that need to be forked from classical Ubuntu to Ubuntu-Mate, in order to make the amount of work sustainable on a long term.

I am not a geek, just a user, reporting on his experience.

[madpentiste]

Thank you @stephematician. I did the 2 things you asked.