Writing a script that can execute commands as super user

[dl01]

I want to add a script to my crontab to delete some logs that grow very quickly on a weekly basis. Unfortunatlty when the files are created only root has the delete privledges. How can I run a script from a regular users login that will change to super user, delete the files then change back?

 

[mrjazz]

Hi DDAANN,

the best solution is to install sudo and give this user the appropriate rights to delete these files.

mrjazz

 

[newmangj]

You could make any script run commands as root as setting the owner of the script to be root (chown root script_name) then making the script run as setuid using chmod BUT this is a very bad idea as it is virtually impossible to make the script "hacker proof" and therefore you end up with a major security violation. By using any number of well known and well published tricks a malicious user could use your setuid script to gain root access to your system and then wreak havoc.

The securest method of doing this task is to write a program in C that will run as setuid root but only assumes root powers for the barest minimum time and has strict control coded in to limit which files can be deleted.

 

[ami123]

Have you though of modifying the crontab entry for the root and adding Ur deletion script there ?
amit
crazy_indian@lycos.com

to bug is human to debug devine

 

[Chapter11]

newmangj's concerns are legitimate, and brings up another issue: several flavors of unix ignore suid bits on shell scripts for exactly this reason.