diff --git a/source/blog/_posts/2010-02-22-built-in-sudo-for-ruby-command-line-tools.md b/source/blog/_posts/2010-02-22-built-in-sudo-for-ruby-command-line-tools.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c1bc4d --- /dev/null +++ b/source/blog/_posts/2010-02-22-built-in-sudo-for-ruby-command-line-tools.md @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: Built-in Sudo for Ruby Command-Line Tools +--- + +I was looking through [my gists][gists] today on GitHub, and decided I'd do a couple of posts on some of the pieces of code I've put up there. The first of which is the `sudome` Ruby method. + +Ever written a command-line tool in Ruby that requires root access for one reason or another? The simplest way to achieve this is to have the end user call the command via `sudo`. It's not the most elegant solution there is, but it works. + +A more elegant solution might be what the [Fink Project][fink] is doing with their `fink` command. It doesn't need to be run via `sudo`, as it calls it within itself. Meaning that when you run `fink`, you'll be prompted to type your password, just as if you had used `sudo`. Some might argue that this is not good practice, and they are probably right. But it all depends on the details of what you're doing. + +A while back I was working on something which the best solution was to make sure the tool always runs as root. To get identical functionality as Fink, I wrote the very simple method shown below: + +{% highlight ruby %} +def sudome + if ENV["USER"] != "root" + exec("sudo #{ENV['_']} #{ARGV.join(' ')}") + end +end +{% endhighlight %} + +Simply call `sudome` as early as possible in your code. If needed it will re-run your script with `sudo`, requiring the user to type his password, at which point your script then has full root access to the system. + +ยป [Original Gist on GitHub][gist] + + +[gists]: http://gist.github.com/jimeh +[fink]: http://www.finkproject.org/ +[port]: http://www.macports.org/ +[gist]: http://gist.github.com/239876 \ No newline at end of file