Had to change polkit-1/rules.d/ permission according to above with this upgrade.
Also the same permission error with /var/log/audit/ .
In addition I also removed manjaro-hotfixes:
(19/22) upgrading manjaro-hotfixes [----------------------------------------] 100%
manjaro-hotfixes is obsolete, please remove:
pamac remove manjaro-hotfixes
I was automatically notified by Journalctl about the KDE powerdevil crash after todayâs update.
Failed to start Powerdevil.
Process 2587 (org_kde_powerde) of user 1000 dumped core.
Stack trace of thread 2587:
#0 0x000073172a2ac83c n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x8e83c)
#1 0x000073172a25c668 raise (libc.so.6 + 0x3e668)
#2 0x000073172b84941c _ZN6KCrash19defaultCrashHandlerEi (libKF5Crash.so.5 + 0x741c)
#3 0x000073172a25c710 n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x3e710)
#4 0x000073172a2ac83c n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x8e83c)
#5 0x000073172a25c668 raise (libc.so.6 + 0x3e668)
#6 0x000073172a2444b8 abort (libc.so.6 + 0x264b8)
#7 0x000073172a2443dc n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x263dc)
#8 0x000073172a254d26 __assert_fail (libc.so.6 + 0x36d26)
#9 0x00007317241652b9 n/a (libddcutil.so.5 + 0x4c2b9)
#10 0x0000731724167f35 n/a (libddcutil.so.5 + 0x4ef35)
#11 0x00007317241681f5 n/a (libddcutil.so.5 + 0x4f1f5)
#12 0x000073172418c16b n/a (libddcutil.so.5 + 0x7316b)
#13 0x00007317241938a2 ddca_get_display_info_list2 (libddcutil.so.5 + 0x7a8a2)
#14 0x0000731724276d37 n/a (powerdevilupowerbackend.so + 0x11d37)
#15 0x000073172427862e _ZN23PowerDevilUPowerBackend18initWithBrightnessEb (powerdevilupowerbackend.so + 0x1362e)
#16 0x000073172aad0e27 n/a (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2d0e27)
#17 0x000073172426d634 _ZN23PowerDevilUPowerBackend24brightnessSupportQueriedEb (powerdevilupowerbackend.so + 0x8634)
#18 0x000073172aad0e27 n/a (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2d0e27)
#19 0x000073172b69956a _ZN4KJob6resultEPS_NS_14QPrivateSignalE (libKF5CoreAddons.so.5 + 0x5e56a)
#20 0x000073172b69f53c n/a (libKF5CoreAddons.so.5 + 0x6453c)
#21 0x000073172aad0e27 n/a (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2d0e27)
#22 0x00007317250007bd n/a (kauth_helper_plugin.so + 0xa7bd)
#23 0x00007317250010a1 n/a (kauth_helper_plugin.so + 0xb0a1)
#24 0x000073172b5db76e n/a (libQt5DBus.so.5 + 0x2176e)
#25 0x000073172aac3964 _ZN7QObject5eventEP6QEvent (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2c3964)
#26 0x000073172aa9bef8 _ZN16QCoreApplication15notifyInternal2EP7QObjectP6QEvent (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x29bef8)
#27 0x000073172aaa0e5b _ZN23QCoreApplicationPrivate16sendPostedEventsEP7QObjectiP11QThreadData (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2a0e5b)
#28 0x000073172aae6ec8 n/a (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2e6ec8)
#29 0x000073172950df69 n/a (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x59f69)
#30 0x000073172956c367 n/a (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0xb8367)
#31 0x000073172950c162 g_main_context_iteration (libglib-2.0.so.0 + 0x58162)
#32 0x000073172aaead0c _ZN20QEventDispatcherGlib13processEventsE6QFlagsIN10QEventLoop17ProcessEventsFlagEE (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x2ead0c)
#33 0x000073172aa9ac04 _ZN10QEventLoop4execE6QFlagsINS_17ProcessEventsFlagEE (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x29ac04)
#34 0x000073172aa9c0a3 _ZN16QCoreApplication4execEv (libQt5Core.so.5 + 0x29c0a3)
#35 0x00005f9a3d84e55b n/a (org_kde_powerdevil + 0x655b)
#36 0x000073172a245cd0 n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x27cd0)
#37 0x000073172a245d8a __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x27d8a)
#38 0x00005f9a3d84f045 n/a (org_kde_powerdevil + 0x7045)
After quickly restoring Btrfs root-snapshot, I checked every single updated package.
No doubt, ddcutil 2.1.0 breaks the backwards compatibility of KDE powerdevil 5.27.10.
I go back to the Btrfs root subvolume and downgrade ddcutil 2.1.0 to 2.0.0 to resolve the issue.
I found some bug reports on 2024-01-19
kde power management system keeps crashing / Pacman & Package Upgrade Issues / Arch Linux Forums
476375 â Powerdevil fails to start with ddcutil-2.0.0, spikes cpu usage to max every few seconds
https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/19a9a87/arch_and_plasma_527_issues_after_kernel_update/
Something wants to call networkmanager to connect to redirect.archlinux.org by detecting Portmaster. This is the first time for me since todayâs update.
But the URL redirect.archlinux.org is not in networkmanager config. Where does this URL come from?
$ cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/20-connectivity.conf
[connectivity]
uri=http://networkcheck.kde.org
uri=http://ping.manjaro.org/check_network_status.txt
uri=http://ping.archlinux.org/nm-check.txt
What does this URL do? 
Edit:
ddcutil 2.1.0-2 fixed this issue
ping.archlinux.org points to redirect.archlinux.org (they are the same)
$ doggo ping.archlinux.com
NAME TYPE CLASS TTL ADDRESS NAMESERVER
ping.archlinux.org. CNAME IN 1154s redirect.archlinux.org. 127.0.0.53:53
redirect.archlinux.org. A IN 2768s 95.216.195.133 127.0.0.53:53
Previous time audit was updated for me was August 11th, 2023. No complaints about differing directory permissions back then.
Canât seem to automount the drives on startup after some of the latest updates, it requires password now, does it have to do with this polkit changes?
If your user is in the wheel group, you can check if adding back this rule, which got removed by manjaro-hotfixes dummy package conversion was responsible for passwordless mounting.
Yep, that helped, thanks.
In latest filesystem-2024.01.19-1-any is it safe to change /bin/bash to /usr/bin/bash in /etc/passwd ?
Of course, thatâs what the change was. 
iâm little confused with what to do here in my case;
my current /etc/passwd reads as;
root:x:0:0::/root:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:65534:65534:Nobody:/:/usr/bin/nologin
dbus:x:81:81:System Message Bus:/:/usr/bin/nologin
bin:x:1:1::/:/usr/bin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2::/:/usr/bin/nologin
mail:x:8:12::/var/spool/mail:/usr/bin/nologin
ftp:x:14:11::/srv/ftp:/usr/bin/nologin
http:x:33:33::/srv/http:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-journal-remote:x:982:982:systemd Journal Remote:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-network:x:981:981:systemd Network Management:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-resolve:x:980:980:systemd Resolver:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-timesync:x:979:979:systemd Time Synchronization:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-coredump:x:978:978:systemd Core Dumper:/:/usr/bin/nologin
uuidd:x:68:68::/:/usr/bin/nologin
dhcpcd:x:977:977:dhcpcd privilege separation:/var/lib/dhcpcd:/usr/bin/nologin
dnsmasq:x:976:976:dnsmasq daemon:/:/usr/bin/nologin
rpc:x:32:32:Rpcbind Daemon:/var/lib/rpcbind:/usr/bin/nologin
avahi:x:974:974:Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD daemon:/:/usr/bin/nologin
colord:x:973:973:Color management daemon:/var/lib/colord:/usr/bin/nologin
geoclue:x:972:972:Geoinformation service:/var/lib/geoclue:/usr/bin/nologin
git:x:971:971:git daemon user:/:/usr/bin/git-shell
nm-openconnect:x:970:970:NetworkManager OpenConnect:/:/usr/bin/nologin
nm-openvpn:x:969:969:NetworkManager OpenVPN:/:/usr/bin/nologin
ntp:x:87:87:Network Time Protocol:/var/lib/ntp:/bin/false
polkitd:x:102:102:PolicyKit daemon:/:/usr/bin/nologin
rtkit:x:133:133:RealtimeKit:/proc:/usr/bin/nologin
sddm:x:968:968:Simple Desktop Display Manager:/var/lib/sddm:/usr/bin/nologin
usbmux:x:140:140:usbmux user:/:/usr/bin/nologin
koshika:x:1000:1000:Koshika:/home/koshika:/bin/bash
tor:x:43:43::/var/lib/tor:/usr/bin/nologin
clamav:x:64:64:Clam AntiVirus:/:/usr/bin/nologin
openvpn:x:967:967:OpenVPN:/:/usr/bin/nologin
saned:x:966:966:SANE daemon user:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-oom:x:964:964:systemd Userspace OOM Killer:/:/usr/bin/nologin
named:x:40:40:BIND DNS Server:/:/usr/bin/nologin
gluster:x:963:963:GlusterFS daemons:/var/run/gluster:/usr/bin/nologin
mysql:x:962:962:MariaDB:/var/lib/mysql:/usr/bin/nologin
tss:x:961:961:tss user for tpm2:/:/usr/bin/nologin
libvirt-qemu:x:959:959:Libvirt QEMU user:/:/usr/bin/nologin
qemu:x:958:958:QEMU user:/:/usr/bin/nologin
postgres:x:957:957:PostgreSQL user:/var/lib/postgres:/bin/bash
odoo:x:956:956:Odoo user:/var/lib/odoo:/usr/bin/nologin
rpcuser:x:34:34:RPC Service User:/var/lib/nfs:/usr/bin/nologin
darkstat:x:954:954:darkstat user:/var/darkstat:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-journal-upload:x:953:953:systemd Journal Upload:/:/usr/bin/nologin
fwupd:x:952:952:Firmware update daemon:/var/lib/fwupd:/usr/bin/nologin
_talkd:x:950:950:User for legacy talkd server:/:/usr/bin/nologin
passim:x:949:949:Local Caching Server:/usr/share/empty:/usr/bin/nologin
do you mean to say changing just the first line from;
root:x:0:0::/root:/sbin/nologin
to;
root:x:0:0::/root:/usr/bin/bash
would be sufficient in my case
OR should i leave it as is
You add this line, if it does not exist in the file.
How should we know what you want? You already changed it once to /sbin/nologin apparently. Why, we donât know.
It exists, always.
I know, but he doesnât have that line in his file. This seems like he made a mess.
i hope repeated lines for ârootâ doesnt matter
of the many messes iâve done to this box, this is not my handiwork. very religious in not touching /etc/passwd
He does have a line for root, nothing wrong with it.
There should only be one line per user, so yes, it does matter.
I highly doubt that default Manjaro uses nologin, so it is your work.
if you think i made the trouble of making sure all users, except the one i use to login were set to /usr/bin/nologin, i have no recollection of doing that. HOWEVER, if there is a setting that prevents any new/existing user (including the ârootâ) other than actual user account i login with, i might have messed with that.
i think this is how it was circa 2018 when manjaro was installed in this. iâve had no issues, with bash duties from my regular account.
please pardon me with the probable naivety involved.
I installed Manjaro that year too and Iâm 99% sure it wasnât like that. Itâs nothing wrong with it if you want to disable login for root, Iâm just saying it isnât default.
root:x:0:0::/root:/bin/bash is default in year 2018
i stand corrected, thank you.
do you think any obvious disadvantages of keeping this as is, like i said iâve had no issues, and have no recollection of what i did to make all accounts automatically go /usr/bin/nologin route, except my user account to remain as;
koshika:x:1000:1000:Koshika:/home/koshika:/bin/bash