I'd like to always run a particular program (e.g. Eclipse) as the apache user. I used to start this program by changing its launcher to call 'su apache -c "/path/to/eclipse"' rather than '/path/to/eclipse'. (This required me to change the login shell in /etc/passwd from nologin to something like bash.)

As I'm new to sudo, I'm wondering if sudo can be used to specify that anytime /path/to/eclipse is run, that it should automatically be run as the apache user (rather than as the currently logged in user)? I get the impression that sudo might allow for this, but I'm not sure. If it doesn't, what other options do I have for 'elegantly' always running this program when launched as a given user? I find that the launcher method I described above isn't the best, because if for whatever reason I launch it a different way, I have to remember to prefix it with 'su apache'.

As far as I know it can not be used to run a program. Only give users rights to run the program. I don't think it was intended to do anything but that.

You might want to look into setuid.

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/unix-bs...x-setuid-file/

No, but, if you log in as the user and do a chmod +s /path/to/eclipse, that should turn on the "set uid" for the executable to that specific user. Note that this will allow anyone with access to that executable to run it as that user. This is often considered a gross security risk, and a no-no on a system connected to the Internet.