Switch user without prompting for a password in shell script

Question

I need to switch between two users using a shell script.

I used su and sudo for switching between users. The bottom line is that, it's prompting for user password every time, and I do not want that to happen.

I know the password; is there a way I can hard code it in the script itself, so that it will not prompt the user for a password?

`su root systemctl restart postgresql.service` part of my code — Gopinagh.R, Aug 14 '12 at 12:56
see http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/7747/is-it-possible-to-su-without-being-prompted-for-a-password — Shawn Chin, Aug 14 '12 at 13:07

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '12 at 00:28

Wouldn't a NOPASSWD clause in sudoers work? For example:

user1 ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/su user2

Allows user1 to su to user2 without password. If you only need to run a certain command as user2, add that to sudoers (through visudo) explicitly:

user1 ALL=(user2) NOPASSWD: /path/to/command

Then as user1 run:

sudo -k user2 /path/to/command

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

1

With the -S parameter sudo accepts the password from Standard Input. See: How to pass the password to su/sudo/ssh without overriding the TTY?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

Community

1
1

answered Aug 14 '12 at 13:00

rollstuhlfahrer

3,988
9
25
38

Switch user without prompting for a password in shell script

2 Answers2