topic Re: How to switch users in a script file automatically? in Operating System - HP-UX

How to switch users in a script file automatically?

Thomas Qiang — Fri, 11 May 2001 15:54:27 GMT

Hi, there,
How can I switch from one account to another using "say SU - USER -C .." wothout being prompted for passwd interactively?
Currently we use "Autosys" to start/stop a batch process that must be run in a specific user account.
I will summarize all the answers and post it later.
Thank you for your help

Re: How to switch users in a script file automatically?

James R. Ferguson — Fri, 11 May 2001 15:59:57 GMT

Hi Thomas:

In a simple shell script, you cannot issue and 'su' and avoid the interactive prompt.

...JRF...

Re: How to switch users in a script file automatically?

Pedro Sousa — Fri, 11 May 2001 16:07:25 GMT

Hi Thomas,
from the man pages:
"To use su, the appropriate password must be supplied unless the current user is superuser."

maybe "Sudo" can help you on giving superuser permissions on some commands to some users.
I've never tried it for this kind of problems.
good luck.

Re: How to switch users in a script file automatically?

Lawrence Mahan — Fri, 11 May 2001 21:45:47 GMT

I had the same problem. What I did was to write a C routine that used the setuid and setgid functions. The compiled executable then needs to be owned by root before the command will switch to another user. You must turn off the write bit or you will have a security hole in your system.

Re: How to switch users in a script file automatically?

Vincenzo Restuccia — Mon, 14 May 2001 07:36:58 GMT

If you run the script with id=root:
su - user -c command

Re: How to switch users in a script file automatically?

Jerry Jordak — Mon, 14 May 2001 10:45:28 GMT

Would it be possible in your environment to change the job definition in AutoSys to have it run as the user you need it to run as? You can specify the user to run the job as when you create the job. That would eliminate the need to do an "su".