In your opinion what makes a terminal program “more useful” than a GUI program with the exact same functionality? Genuinely curious because it’s a perspective I cannot wrap my brain around lol

And apt is just the beginning of it. It’s not that uncommon for apt to not work either.

Amazing. Yes, when I said “open” I actually secretly meant “fold”, a totally normal and common mistake users make when accessing the contents of a lunchbox. Everything is an XY problem!

Thank you lol this thread got absurd.

“I won’t tell you to open your lunchbox until you tell me what you brought for lunch and the allergies of anyone in your family.”

Oh I know, no disrespect to my terminal-peeps. to clarify, I was speaking purely about the “noob friendly” distros.

I appreciate the absolute mountains of concern that I am using my own computer incorrectly, but I’ve been doing it this way for more than a decade and have never once broken anything, lost data or exposed myself to a security risk so I think I’m doing ok.

I know. That’s what I’ve been doing for years. I could also just sudo gedit file directory filename but it’s SO much easier to right-click “open as admin” which is why I asked.

Thanks for this, but I have a question:

Running apps as root doesnt work with Wayland, and for a good reason.

Are you sure about this? I run GUI apps as root all the time and have Wayland.

Yes! Exactly why it bugs me when options are left out of the GUI out of what I can only assume is a sense of concern the user might use them “incorrectly”.

It’s a lot more windowsy than gnome.

Is it as easily customizable now? The thing I hate about Windows and love about GNOME is that I can configure the UI to look like almost anything with a few clicks and there is a great community creating great extensions. I haven’t tried KDE in many years but I found it more limiting than even Windows last time I tried it.

I like GNOME for it’s extensions, but haven’t tried KDE since before Plasma. Is it highly customizable on par with GNOME?

That’s a really good point. I also know that making GUIs sucks and there’s a reason UX devs make the big bucks.

Thanks, I’m aware of the XY problem and do appreciate everyone’s concern. I am not trying to run a random app as root. That would be absurd.

The question is not about a specific use-case, but a general one. An alternative reading would be “Is there a way to run short commands as root without switching to the terminal?”

The thing is terminal tools are already available.

Right, after many years of Linux, I get the feeling that developers assume that if you don’t like text-based input, you are not responsible enough to configure your own computer. It strikes me as a hacky workaround to the problem of different knowledge levels among users. This is not a criticism of any particular developer, and I have a deep respect for them all. It’s just an observation. UAC is not much better, and Apple’s “solution” is even worse.

What I want to accomplish is to open files and programs as root without use of the terminal. I promise you I have no nefarious intentions towards you or your ilk.

I actually don’t mind the straightforward names! When I was a Linux newbie it was very helpful to get going. but it would be nice to have advanced info more readily available instead of assuming I “don’t need it” as so frequently happens. I’m in the awkward space where I am by any measure an advanced power user, but not like systems admin level where I am more comfortable in the command line.

Do you have a desktop icon or something other link named like “ProgramA” but when you run it, its executing under a different process name?

Yes. I have been using Linux daily for a few years now and it remains my biggest frustration knowing what is running and where it might be installed.

Two examples are gedit is called “Text Editor” and nautilus is called “File Browser”. Gparted is called “Partition Editor”.

Is that what youre asking? How to find the target program name from a shortcut or other desktop icon?

Yes. But without using the terminal. I am not anti-terminal, I’m just looking for a faster way.

Thank you.

I asked how to find the name of a program via the GUI. And if it was possible (via GNOME extension or whatever) to add that information to the context menu. The guide you sent me only included the final step (adding a command to the context menu).