Executing sudo command with space through python

Question

Hi guys and gal's I have a problem.

I'm executing a python script that needs to run a sudo command to continue. This is the command:

sudo /etc/init.d/test restart

The issue is that no matter how I execute this it only runs sudo and /etc/init.d/test and returns:

sudo: /etc/init.d/test: command not found

The issue seems to be that restart is not sent along with the command.

These are the ways I've tried running the command:

Attempt 1 using os

os.system('sudo /etc/init.d/test restart')

Attempt 2 using subprocess

x = subprocess.Popen(['sudo','/etc/init.d/test','restart'])
x.communicate()

Attempt 3 using subprocess again

x = subprocess.Popen(['sudo','/etc/init.d/test restart'])
x.communicate()

This actually returned:

sudo: /etc/init.d/test restart: command not found

Which doesn't make sense since if I execute the command directly on the system it works.
Any ideas as to how I could do this?

Pretty much but the answer given there did not work for me. As you can see the full path is given and it still does not work :( Should I have asked the question again in that thread? If so I'm sorry I thought since it did not answer me I could just ask again. — Adilicious
– Adilicious, Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:11
The sudo command will give you root privileges, and needs your password to do so. It's a really, really bad idea to give root access without a password — Maykel Llanes Garcia
– Maykel Llanes Garcia, Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:14
This will work on a bunch of machines with different passwords so I figured it would be best if I just left it to the user to input the password. — Adilicious
– Adilicious, Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 13:18

Hal Canary · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03 13:15:54Z

3

#!/usr/bin/env python
import subprocess,getpass
password = getpass.getpass()
#proc = subprocess.Popen(
#  ['sudo','-p','','-S','/etc/init.d/test','restart'],
#   stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
proc = subprocess.Popen(
    ['sudo','-p','','-S','echo','restart'],
    stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
proc.stdin.write(password+'\n')
proc.stdin.close()
proc.wait()

answered Apr 3, 2013 at 13:15

Hal Canary

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2 Comments

Adilicious Over a year ago

When I execute this nothing happens and after a bit the script continues. Now since this should restart the system I'm not sure whether it worked or not. Is it suppose to be just a blank screen or could there be an error?

tdelaney Over a year ago

The script just prompts for a password and prints the word 'restart'. I tried it and it works for me.

Ian Rose · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03 13:38:07Z

0

If you get this:

sudo: /etc/init.d/test: command not found

it indicates that /etc/init.d/test doesn't exist. Try it yourself like this from the command line:

> sudo blarg whatever whatever
sudo: blarg: command not found

So just make sure that the command you are trying to execute really exists:

ls -l /etc/init.d/test

If you still have problems, then try to simplify things by first just getting it to execute 'sudo whoami' -- once you get that working, change it to your "real" command.

answered Apr 3, 2013 at 13:38

Ian Rose

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1 Comment

Adilicious Over a year ago

Yeah but see I only get that because it doesn't run the full command /etc/init.d/test restart. If I were to run the full command in the linux console it works. Thanks for the help though.

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