topic Re: su -c within a script in Operating System - HP-UX

su -c within a script

Coolmar — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:40:23 GMT

Hi,

I have a user who needs to su to another userid to run a command within a script. However, the user is non-root and therefore, a password is required. The problem is that su will not run from a script because it is interactive and therefore you have to physically type the password. I was thinking of SUDO, but they don't need to run the program as root. Any ideas?

BTW, this is required because the user needs to change to the other userid to run the file because of the profile.

Re: su -c within a script

Peter Godron — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:47:19 GMT

Sally,
not sure about this, but would setting the sticky bit help?
Also chmod the file to allow user 1 to run the file.
Regards

Re: su -c within a script

Rajeev Tyagi — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:53:40 GMT

sally,

What is the issue with sudo. You are not executing your program as root. If you do sudo su - user2 -c "program" your effective user id is user2 not root.

Re: su -c within a script

Steven E. Protter — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 09:55:49 GMT

root is the only user that can do a su - and not be prompted for an interactive password.

You will need to look at sudo to handle your requirement as written without being prompted for a password.

It is possible to hardcode passwords into scripts, but thats a very bad idea from th security standpoint.

SEP

Re: su -c within a script

RAC_1 — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 10:02:50 GMT

You can use except tool for it.
Get it here - http://hpux.connect.org.uk

Re: su -c within a script

Peter Nikitka — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 11:57:51 GMT

Hi,

if you need just entries out of the environment of that other user, these should be transferred to a seperate script (e.g. set.env). Then they can be sourced by every user who needs them (". set.env" for Bourne-like or "source set.env" for CSH-like Shells).

If there are other reason to switch to another user from a non-root account, you can try to replace the 'su' by 'rsh localhost' or 'ssh localhost'. These commands can easily be setup to lack the need of entering a password.

mfG Peter

Re: su -c within a script

Coolmar — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 12:52:12 GMT

Setup SUDO and it worked like a charm. Thanks!