Python Fabric: How to answer to keyboard input?

Question

I would like to automate the response for some question prompted by some programs, like mysql prompting for a password, or apt asking for a 'yes' or ... when I want to rebuild my haystack index with a ./manage.py rebuild_index.

For MySQL, I can use the --password= switch, and I'm sure that apt has a 'quiet' like option. But how can I pass the response to other programs ?

score 39 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 11 '10 at 17:50

39

If you are looking for a user to confirm an operation, use the confrim method.

if fabric.contrib.console.confirm("You tests failed do you want to continue?"):
  #continue processing

Or if you are looking for a way to get input from the user, use the prompt method.

password = fabric.operations.prompt("What is your password?")

answered Feb 11 '10 at 17:50

buckley

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Instead of using Fabric's prompt for a password, I would recommend importing getpass and using that so that you don't display the password on the terminal as it's being typed. For non-password input, then I agree that Fabric's prompt is good to use. – Matthew Rankin Mar 15 '10 at 21:42
In fabric2: `invocations.console.confirm("do you really want to do this?")` http://www.fabfile.org/upgrading.html#contrib (`invocations` is a standalone package now) – Marshall May 06 '19 at 21:08

score 13 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '19 at 07:05

13

Why can't you just use pipes?

For example, for an automated auto accept, just use yes, that just outputs a neverending stream of y.

yes | rm *.txt

_{(source: wikimedia.org)}

edited Jun 15 '19 at 07:05

Glorfindel

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answered Feb 11 '10 at 17:47

Esteban Küber

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What if the command *sometimes* prompts and sometimes does not? How can I pipe yes only when I know there will be a prompt? – Kvass Jun 19 '13 at 13:54
and what if i have a complex command, asking 2-3 times yes/no and numerical value after ? – Alex Granovsky Jul 23 '15 at 16:36

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 11 '10 at 18:03

Those both methods are valid and works.

I choose the first one, because I didn't want to have any interaction with my deployment system.

So here is the solution I used:

% yes | ./manage.py rebuild_index

WARNING: This will irreparably remove EVERYTHING from your search index. Your choices after this are to restore from backups or rebuild via the rebuild_index command. Are you sure you wish to continue? [y/N] Removing all documents from your index because you said so. All documents removed. Indexing 27 Items.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 15 '11 at 10:05

1

The development version of Fabric (1.0a) now supports interaction with remote programs. http://docs.fabfile.org/1.0a/usage/interactivity.html

answered Feb 15 '11 at 10:05

akv

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Fabric is now at 1.0.1 and the url is http://docs.fabfile.org/en/1.0.1/usage/interactivity.html – Julien Grenier Apr 14 '11 at 18:10
Fabric is now at 1.5 and the url is http://docs.fabfile.org/en/1.5/usage/interactivity.html. The documentation has not changed significantly. – lsh Feb 28 '13 at 12:02
This is fun. Ok, here's for 1.10: http://docs.fabfile.org/en/1.10/usage/interactivity.html. Next update shouldn't come any earlier than 2017, and then hopefully for Fabric 2! – lucianf May 11 '15 at 23:44
1.13 is here [docs.fabfile.org/en/1.13/usage/interactivity.html](http://docs.fabfile.org/en/1.13/usage/interactivity.html). For you guys said that in 2011, 2013, 2015... I should add one...It's 2017 now. ;) – Yarco Jul 05 '17 at 03:47

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 26 '18 at 04:49

Late answer, but hope this would help peoples having similar problem.

Different point:

Answer two or more different input to console.
parallel mode Support.
Any type of input yes/no/y/n included.

Problem

[hostxxx] out: Type 'c' if you want to use the Commercial Edition.
[hostxxx] out: Type 'o' if you want to use the Open Source Edition.
[hostxxx] out: Type '3' to view the GNU General Public License version 3.
[hostxxx] out: Type 'L' to view the Lesser GNU General Public License version 2.1.
[hostxxx] out: Type 'yes' to accept this license offer.
[hostxxx] out: Type 'no' to decline this license offer.

Solution:

Use printf instead of yes to add more flexibility, meanwhile this works like a charm on parallel mode.

@parallel
def demo_multi_input():
    run('printf "o\nyes\n"|./configure --prefix=/home/work/bin/qt')

score -1 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 29 '17 at 13:05

-1

Use this code:

run("echo yes|./manage.py rebuild_index")

edited Sep 29 '17 at 13:05

Robert Columbia

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answered Sep 29 '17 at 10:42

Ziwen Lv

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Python Fabric: How to answer to keyboard input?

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