What's New For Administrators

5.1. PolicyKit Integration

PolicyKit is a new cross-desktop security framework. The purpose of PolicyKit is to provide a consistent way for user applications to gain extra privileges, e.g. for administrative applications.

Using PolicyKit, administrators can now configure system-wide settings. For example, you might allow some user to adjust the date and time of the clock, or you might grant specific users the ability to start and stop system services.

For users, control panels now feature unlock buttons next to settings they are not currently authorised to change. Clicking on the unlock button will ask the user to provide extra authorisation credentials.

Figure 8Network Settings.

5.2. Better System Tools

GNOME's system administration tools now monitor for changes in the configuration files they're editing. This means that if another administrator changes the configuration, your display is updated to reflect those changes.

The Shared Folders tool now allows you to edit the SMB user database (smbpasswd).

The Network tool can now set up PPPoE and GPRS connections.