Linux shell script - How to switch user and run a script?

Question

I'm currently writing a .sh script to deploy different applications on 4 different machines. Right now I'm having trouble with running a script as another user. I need to log in with myUser with my credentials and then sudo su to user2 to run a specific script.

Normally, I would manually do the following:

ssh myUser@remotehost
[Type in password]
sudo su - user2
cd /path/only/accessible/to/user2
./someScript.sh

when I tried

ssh -t myUser@$remotehost "sudo su - user2 && /path/only/accessible/to/user2 && ./someScript.sh"

I was asked my password, then stayed logged as user2, without any feedback from the script, which would normally give me some informations.

What am I doing wrong?

1. don't use in sudo su - or sudo or su, but not both together. 2. in ssh you forget to do cd, why not run script directly(without cd), i.e. "sudo su - user2 && /path/only/accessible/to/user2/someScript.sh" — sKwa
– sKwa, Commented Feb 8, 2018 at 17:55

uaBArt · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-08 18:00:02Z

2

Try
ssh -t myUser@$remotehost "sudo -u user2 /path/only/accessible/to/user2/someScript.sh"

If you need shell access after that you can use
ssh -t myUser@$remotehost "sudo -u user2 /path/only/accessible/to/user2/someScript.sh && /bin/bash -l"

edited Feb 8, 2018 at 18:00

answered Feb 8, 2018 at 17:55

uaBArt

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3 Comments

sKwa Over a year ago

why sudo su? don't you think its something wrong? its a bad practice.

uaBArt Over a year ago

Edited (used sudo su as in question from Anthony). Now answer without it

Anthony Garneau Over a year ago

Would have worked but I don't have the rights to execute as user2 on that machine (which is weird, but eh), only to switch user. I'll still mark your answer as accepted for the learning experience. Thanks! The rest of my fight will be with the sysadmin

Patrick · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-17 15:49:35Z

0

An update if anyone wonders about this.

What I finally did was to log in with an ssh key. My sysadmin had to get involved in order to set it up, but at least it is a viable option.

ssh -i /path/to/sshKey user2@$remoteHost "/path/only/accessible/to/user2/someScript.sh"

edited Apr 17, 2018 at 15:49

Patrick

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answered Apr 17, 2018 at 13:31

Anthony Garneau

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