Etherape as root

This has popped up as an occasional question in the forums.
If you monitor network activity using Etherape, it's worthless as a user level application. It must be run as root. But running as root requires opening a terminal and entering a password.

Here's how to change the settings in Ubuntu 14.04 to create an Etherape (as root) launcher in Unity that won't require a password. It has only been tested with 14.04. Unity development moves fast - this method may not work for a different version of Ubuntu.

It requires a minor edit to the /etc/sudoers file, and minor edits to two .desktop files. It's easy to undo if you change your mind.


1) I like to document my changes. I have three changes to keep track of, in case I change my mind. So I'm adding a new subdirectory to keep track of this change.

mkdir my_customizations/etherape_launcher

2) Edit the sudoers file. This is the dangerous part. Pay close attention.

You need to know your login account name (fred, Jane, dog, etc.)
You need to know your hostname as shown in /etc/hostname.

$ sudo visudo

At the bottom of the file, add one line. Spacing, spelling, and CAPS are important.

account_name hostname = NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/etherape

Use your account_name and hostname, of course.

Do a CTRL+X to exit, and hit Y to confirm the exit.
Now look carefully at the screen.

If visudo is happy with your changes, it will print no output, but simply return you to a command prompt.

If the screen shows an error, type 'edit' and go right back in to fix the error. If you don't know how to fix the error, delete your added line and save. You MUST NOT exit with a broken sudoers file - a broken sudoers file is 100% guaranteed to break your system! It's very important that you pay close attention to any error messages visudo prints when you try to exit.



3) Test: Open a NEW terminal window, and try 'sudo etherape'.
It should no longer ask for a password.

If you get sudo errors instead, you have broken your system! Stop! Save all your data! Reboot into a recovery console (since you cannot use sudo) and edit /etc/sudoers to undo your changes. Go to an Ubuntu help channel and ask for help on how to do this!



4) Now that we know the sudo change works, move the sudoers line to a separate file

We used visudo to ensure the correct syntax and a working sudoers file. But it's not a great idea to leave undocumented system changes laying around in system-installed (and system-rewritable) files. So let's move the customization to a separate file so we can keep track of it.

$ sudo nano /etc/sudoers.d/etherape

File contents:

# Allows 'sudo etherape' to be run, including from a launcher, wthout password

my_account my_hostname = NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/etherape

Remember to change my_account and my_hostname to the proper values!

Test your change using 'sudo etherape'. It should work without a password, and without an error message.

Go back into visudo and delete the etherape line at the bottom.

Test your change once more using 'sudo etherape'. It should work without a password, and without an error message.


Now /etc/sudoers is back to it's original state, and our change is safely in a separate file. If we want to delete the change, we simply delete /etc/sudoers.d/etherape.



5) Let's link this new sudoers file to our documentation so we can find it again.

$ sudo ln /etc/sudoers.d/etherape \
          my_customizations/etherape_launcher/

6) Edit the etherape-root .desktop file

$ sudo nano /usr/share/applications/etherape-root.desktop

File contents:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=EtherApe (as root)
Type=Application
Categories=GNOME;System;Network;
Comment=Graphical Network Monitor
Comment[es]=Monitor Gráfico de Red
#TryExec=su-to-root                            <-- Comment out
#Exec=su-to-root -X -c /usr/bin/etherape        <-- Comment out
Exec=/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/etherape -i wlan0     <-- Add line
Icon=etherape
Terminal=false

7) Edit the etherape (user) .desktop file to hide it. We don't want to delete it; the package manager will expect it to be there.

$ sudo nano /usr/share/applications/etherape.desktop

#[Desktop Entry]           <-- Comment out
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=EtherApe
GenericName=EtherApe
Comment=Graphical Network Monitor
Comment[es]=Monitor Gráfico de Red
Exec=etherape
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=etherape
Categories=GNOME;System;Network;

8) Let's save links to the changed desktop files so I can find them again someday:

$ sudo ln /usr/share/applications/etherape-root.desktop \
          my_customizations/etherape_launcher/
$ sudo ln /usr/share/applications/etherape.desktop \
          my_customizations/etherape_launcher/

9) Test the new .desktop file.

Open Unity's Dash.
Close any existing search.
Open a new search for Etherape. There should be only one option now: Etherape (as root).
Open it. It should show all interfaces without requiring a password or prompting an error.
Lock it to the Launcher (right-click).
Close etherape. The launcher icon should remain.
Open it again from the launcher. It should work