su command in shell script

Question

I have a script which copies a file, then untar and install it (agent-service) on multiple systems (IPs are read from systems.txt file). In the script, I wanted to start the agent-service as user "test". However after the script execution, when I check the target system, the agent-service is shown as running as "root" user. What could be wrong here? Am I not using su command correct within the script?

~]# ps -ef | grep agent-service

    root     23511 15196  0 02:12 pts/3    00:00:00 agent-service

Script>

#!/bin/bash
export AGENT=linux-5.8.1.tar.gz

while read host; do

scp $AGENT root@$host:/opt


ssh -n root@$host 'cd /opt/linux;
tar zxvf linux-5.8.1.tar.gz;
mkdir /opt/hyperic;
useradd -m test;
chown -R test:test /opt/linux;
su - test;
/opt/linux/agent-service start'

done < systems.txt

That reads as: switch to user test, which has nothing to do, finishes, and then run that start as the original user. If you keep it in one line it might work (su -c the-command). BTW: there are things like start-stop-daemon which take care of a lot of things you might find useful. — Wrikken
– Wrikken, Commented Sep 2, 2014 at 9:13

Jean-Karim Bockstael · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-02 09:16:19Z

5

Using su as you do here spawns a new shell that has nothing to do thus exits immediately.

Either pass the command to su:

su - test -c /opt/linux/agent-service start

Or use sudo in a similar manner:

sudo -u test /opt/linux/agent-service start

answered Sep 2, 2014 at 9:16

Jean-Karim Bockstael

1,41510 silver badges18 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

user3331975 Over a year ago

thanks much, that helped. updated the script as below and it worked. su -c "/opt/linux/agent-service start" test

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

su command in shell script

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related