I found the problem. In my build script inadvertently I changed package file ownerships to root:root. That change modified the $PREFIX/bin/kdesud binary from 2755 and root:nogroup to 0755 root:root. The actual "damage" is caused by changing permissions from 2755 to 0755. Changing the group has no noticeable effect. I can toggle the permissions between 2755 and 0755 and see the effect immediately regardless of the group. Apparently kdesud must run set GID. If I read the kdesu.cpp source code correctly, setting kdesud to other than 2755 triggers not showing the 'Keep password' check box. In kdesu.cpp, the file permission test for running kdesud 2755: if (!client.isServerSGID()) { kdWarning(1206) << "Daemon not safe (not sgid), not using it.\n"; have_daemon = false; } The 'have_daemon' variable controls whether to show the 'Keep password' check box. Regardless, that '1206' warning message never appears anywhere. I checked the system logs and the user's xsession log. That warning would have helped me solve the problem much sooner. How does one view that warning? Darrell