Bleachbit request for Linux [single launcher with in-app privilege escalation, automated cleanup mode]

[seifenprinz-droid]

Running BleachBit in a window with root privileges should be technically possible, right? That way you only need one icon instead of two, making startup much faster. An automated cleanup mode at Linux startup would be great, and it would be nice to be able to grant root privileges directly within the BleachBit tool.

Regards, Roger from Duisburg-Ruhrort (Germany)

[az0]

Hi Roger,

Thanks for your ideas.

Running BleachBit in a window with root privileges should be technically possible, right? That way you only need one icon instead of two, making startup much faster.

it would be nice to be able to grant root privileges directly within the BleachBit tool.

Are these the same thing? My idea is to start BleachBit (on both Windows and Linux) as a regular user. Then if elevated privileges are required based on the options selected, it would prompt the user at that time. This is how some tools work, such as Windows File Explorer and gnome-disk-utility.

The under-the-hood work to make this happen would also enable other enhancements.

An automated cleanup mode at Linux startup would be great

Do you want it to launch just start the application or also start the cleaning? If fully automatic cleaning, then would the user select a set of options (like a preset) ahead of time, or would it use the last options selected, or another way to select the options?

[tjw123hh]

I ran into the same use case trying to run BleachBit as root in a Wayland desktop environment.

Currently, gtk-based privilege escalation with pkexec can’t launch a GUI on Wayland natively due to Wayland’s security model (root processes can’t access the user’s Wayland socket). This makes it hard to have a single launcher that directly runs BleachBit as root.

A few observations that might help refine this feature request:

• Wayland does not allow root GUI apps directly, so any “single icon for root mode” needs to use a helper / portal pattern rather than pkexec starting the GUI.
• The polkit path in BleachBit is intended for privilege escalation of specific actions, not the whole GUI, which aligns better with both Wayland and desktop security expectations.
• For automation (e.g., running cleanup at startup), a separate non-GUI daemon mode or an integrated scheduler might be a better fit.

An approach that could work well would be:

1. Keep the GUI running in user space on Wayland,
2. Use a secure, polkit/portal-based helper for privileged operations,
3. Optionally support automated cleanup without requiring users to rely on pkexec env … hacks.

Thanks for considering this!