Sudo in shell script
 

Hi guyz,

Whats wrong with this line?

This should ask for the password then execute the script at background and get back to menu

You should not put the '&' at the end of the line, because the whole "line" goes in background and sudo can't ask you the password.
Put the '&' inside the script "somescript.sh", instead. So that first sudo asks for the password (in foreground), and only then the script goes in background.

It will run the sudo command in the background, instead of the script. Use
instead. With this one, sudo starts the sh shell, which in turn starts the script in the background thorough nohup.

Thanks that worked for me...

Can this be used to run a script that will work as "superuser"?
 

for example: set an icon on the users desktop to run a script such as:
nohup ~/trial.sh &

that script calls this one:
sudo -u (username) cp /etc/my-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

To replace the domain name servers with your own choice.

What have I got wrong in this?

I used to write some 'bat' files in DOS, but this ain't DOS.

try this

sudo -u username 'cp /etc/my-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf'

I get the error: " sudo -u username 'cp /etc/my-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf' "

But your note did prod me into tring several other options. I want this to work under the gksu oprion,so I won't have to go through the routine of calling up a terminal and typing into it. I'd prefer just to have it work from clicking an idon on the desktop. Tis is what finaly works for me:

I put an icon on the panel, and this line in the command portion:
" gksu cp /etc/resolv.conf /etc/m-resolv.conf "

That worked! Thanks for the prod. Now, I'll just have to modify that command to copy from m-resolv.conf to resolve.conf instead of the way it now does.

Dave

@littlejoe5

To run a script as root from a script running as a user
using sudo without a password:

visudo and add a line at the bottom:
user ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /path/to/root/script.sh

Then inside the user script:

sudo /path/to/root/script.sh

Only "user" can run script.sh without a password with sudo.

This effectively gets around Linux's ban
on SUID root for scripts.

Russ

Thanks rustec. I didn't know that tool existed. Looks like a pretty powerful tool - and maybe dangerous. I'll have to study it.

Dave