LinuxQuestions.org - Script to capture gnome-screensaver event doesn't work if run as root

I am trying to run scripts when gnome-screensaver starts or stops in Ubuntu. If I set up the scripts as described it works fine. I can't get it to work as root.

Here is the script ssTriger copied from the referenced web site with a small change (used "call" instead of "Popen" to invoke the scripts to run at start and stop of screen saver activation):

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env python

from gobject import MainLoop

from dbus import SessionBus

from dbus.mainloop.glib import DBusGMainLoop

from subprocess import Popen

from subprocess import call



class SSTrigger:

    def __init__(self):

        DBusGMainLoop(set_as_default=True)

        self.mem='ActiveChanged'

        self.dest='org.gnome.ScreenSaver'

        self.bus=SessionBus()

        self.loop=MainLoop()

        self.bus.add_signal_receiver(self.catch,self.mem,self.dest)

    def catch(self,ssOn):

        if ssOn == 1: #Screensaver turned on

#            call(["echo", "'opt/ssTrigger/ssStart'"])

            call(["sudo", "/opt/ssTrigger/ssStart"])

            #Popen(["/opt/ssTrigger/ssStart"])

#            call(["sudo", "ifconfig","eth0","down"]) #works if ifconfig set in sudoers

        else: #Screensaver turned off

#            Popen(["/opt/ssTrigger/ssStop"])

#            call(["echo", "'opt/ssTrigger/ssStop'"])

#            call(["sudo", "ifconfig", "eth0", "up"]) #works if ifconfig set in sudoers

            call(["sudo", "/opt/ssTrigger/ssStop"])



SSTrigger().loop.run()

ssStart is:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

echo "start"

#sudo ifconfig eth0 down

ifconfig eth0 down

exit

ssStop is:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

echo "stop"

#sudo ifconfig eth0 up

ifconfig eth0 up

exit

Both ssStart and ssStop are owned by root. These and ssTriger (owned by me) are in /opt/ssTrigger as per the referenced web page I got all this from.

Also have added this to /etc/sudoers so I don't have to enter my password when the scripts run.

Code:

user_me ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /opt/ssTrigger/ssStart

user_me ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /opt/ssTrigger/ssStop

I'm running ssTrigger from a terminal window and it works flawlessly but when I run it as root it won't capture the screen saver start or stop event. If I could do this then I could get rid of the scripts and "call(["sudo", "ifconfig", "eth0", "down"])" instead.

This is a potential solution to a question I posted a while back where I want to put internet connection to sleep if no user activity but haven't had time to try and solve till now.

Any help will appreciated.