[plug] script help, needed on 'su' or equivalent

[Russell Steicke]

On Fri, May 07, 2004 at 11:46:58AM +0800, John Knight wrote:
> G'day all!
> 
> I'm working on a script which I've dubbed 'buildprogram' for the moment. It 
> takes:
> ./configure
> make
> su
> make install
> 
> and whacks 'em all in a script so you only have to run the one command. Of 
> course it's very basic at the moment, and I plan to add features like 
> passing arguments to configure, error checking, etc. The main goal is to 
> have one executable that I can run easily enough, and when I'm on a 
> filemanager, ru nmy own little plugin where I go into a recently extracted 
> tarball's directory, right click and choose 'make program here', at which 
> point a terminal will open displaying the output and everything will make 
> me happy. :)
> 
> Anyway, the bit I'm not sure about is how do I run a command as root? The 
> only think I know how to do is use su, and if you have 'su' and then 'make 
> install' in the script, then it won't run the command. I know it's an easy 
> question and probably an easy thing to do, but could someone please fill me 
> ni on the right command?

sudo is a better choice for what you want to do.  Run visudo as root to
edit the /etc/sudoers file.  The man page for sudoers(5) is complete,
but cryptic.  The simplest solution is to copy the line that says

  root    ALL=(ALL) ALL

and change the username.  visudo will warn you after it leaves the
editor if you make a syntax mistake.  You can restrict the commands that
a user is allowed to execute with sudo.  Read the man page for details.

Then, in your script, remove the su line, and change "make install" with

  sudo make install




-- 
Russell Steicke

-- Fortune says:
When a girl can read the handwriting on the wall, she may be in the wrong
rest room.