Remove need for sudo for mount/umount

narnie · 02-17-2010, 12:44 PM

Hello,

I'm trying to remove the need to use sudo to mount (in particular, binding).

Modifying /etc/sudoers using visudo, I have tried:

Code:

%admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/mount
%admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/umount

and

Code:

%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/mount
%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/umount

Both return

Code:

$ mount --bind /home/woodnt/Dir1 /home/woodnt/Dir2
mount: only root can do that

I have logged out and in (and even rebooted) to no avail.

What am I missing here?

With thanks,
Narnie

pljvaldez · 02-17-2010, 01:00 PM

I believe the sudo no password function still requires you to type sudo, it just doesn't ask you for a password. I believe what you want to do is create an entry in fstab with the users option.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=81368

reed9 · 02-17-2010, 01:00 PM

Is mount/umount is /usr/bin? It's in /bin for me. What is the output of

Code:

which mount

EDIT: And the above is also true.

reed9 · 02-17-2010, 01:03 PM

I should think before posting.

Assuming the path is correct, you can alias mount/umount to include sudo. Add something to ~/.bashrc like

Code:

alias mount="sudo mount"

if you want to avoid typing sudo.

You can also install pmount.

narnie · 02-17-2010, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pljvaldez

I believe the sudo no password function still requires you to type sudo, it just doesn't ask you for a password. I believe what you want to do is create an entry in fstab with the users option.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=81368

when I do this with truecrypt, it does not require the use of sudo before.

as in :

Code:

%admin ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/truecrypt

I don't need to run this with sudo:

Code:

$ truecrypt -t -v -d
Volume "/home/woodnt/.vol/xj9" has been dismounted.
Volume "/home/woodnt/.vol/i5yq" has been dismounted.

If I comment out the truecrypt line in /etc/sudoers, then truecrypt will run with asking for an admin password.

Truecrypt is likely calling for mount via sudo, but then why doesn't /etc/sudoers require mount to be the command not truecrypt?

As far as why mount and umount weren't working, it is because I was not careful.

I had it as /usr/bin/mount or umount unstead of /bin/mount and umount. Err. Stupid mistake!!!

Thanks,
Narnie

evo2 · 02-18-2010, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by narnie

I'm trying to remove the need to use sudo to mount

You don't want to use sudo? So why are you bothering to configure it?

You can give users permission to mount partitions by adding the "user" option to the relevant entries in /etc/fstab.

Evo2.

Hangdog42 · 02-18-2010, 06:55 AM

Or as a complete alternative, you could look at pmount to allow normal users to mount. It doesn't require messing with sudo or fstab.

narnie · 02-19-2010, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evo2

You don't want to use sudo? So why are you bothering to configure it?

You can give users permission to mount partitions by adding the "user" option to the relevant entries in /etc/fstab.

Evo2.

Don't want them documented in fstab as they are encrypted volumes containing financial info, etc.

narnie · 02-19-2010, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hangdog42

Or as a complete alternative, you could look at pmount to allow normal users to mount. It doesn't require messing with sudo or fstab.

I've actually thought about this, but haven't looked into seeing if I can get it to work with truecrypt. I'll have to delve into the truecrypt script and see how it mounts the volume (/dev/mapper/truecryptX), then mounts the unencrypted volume sometime. Just haven't had the time yet to get that deep into this. I also need to exam how compatable pmount is with mount. If it is a drop-in replacement, I can just do a simple search/replace (likely for "sudo mount") and repleace it with "pmount" but I'll check into this time permitting.

Does anyone know who we need to talk to to get a few more hours in every day? 26, or even 28 sounds good to me

Narnie

fbsduser · 02-19-2010, 08:20 PM

the reason truecrypt isn't requiring the use of sudo is likelly because the truecrypt "binary" is actually a script which runs sudo mount/sudo umount and a bunch of other libraries/binaries.

Hangdog42 · 02-20-2010, 07:18 AM

Quote:

I also need to exam how compatable pmount is with mount. If it is a drop-in replacement, I can just do a simple search/replace (likely for "sudo mount") and repleace it with "pmount" but I'll check into this time permitting.

Pmount certainly doesn't replace mount on your system. I think of it more as an extension of mount. At least on my Slackware systems, there has been zero compatibility problems between pmount and mount.

narnie · 02-24-2010, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hangdog42

Pmount certainly doesn't replace mount on your system. I think of it more as an extension of mount. At least on my Slackware systems, there has been zero compatibility problems between pmount and mount.

Good to know. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the phrase "drop in replacement" as I did, as I didn't mean that it means mount is uninstalled, but that it is command compatable in that if I were to search/replace a script for mount (replacing with pmount) and it would work, then it would work just the same.

I haven't installed pmount, but would get this answer if I would do that and read the man pages. Just hadn't had the time to experiment on this particular issue (so many irons in the fire)