Executable text file to open a terminal & execute .sh file

[Larry78723]

I have a .sh file in a folder under /home/larry/ that I'd like to execute from an executable text file in my home folder but have no idea how to do the following from the text file:

1. open a terminal
2. cd to the appropriate folder
3. then execute a "sudo bash xyz.sh"

I'd appreciate any help you can provide.
Larry

[rene]

Given that you refer to one of the files involved as "a .sh file" and the other as "an executable text file" it is unclear whether or not you mean latter is (also) a shell script, or are referring to something more specific. If we're just talking about two shell scripts, the idea is not "to open a terminal". A terminal is an interface for humans; from one shell script you simply launch another directly. I.e.,

my_executable_file_in_my_home_folder:

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#!/bin/sh
cd /the/appropiate/folder
sudo bash xyz.sh

or directly sudo bash /the/appropriate/folder/xyz.sh if xyz.sh does not need /the/appropriate/folder as its current working directory, or even more directly sudo /the/appropriate/folder/xyz.sh if xyz.sh is itself executable, or...

That is; needs more context. Currently not too clear how to answer most usefully. One thing you're always going to run into is the "sudo"; you will want to tell sudo that the xyz.sh script can be executed without having to enter a password (or execute the first script as root, or...) but that's for later; first just experiment with an xyz.sh script that doesn't need privileges.

[Larry78723]

rene, perhaps I can explain the situation better. The program I want to execute must be run in a terminal from within its own folder (/home/larry/distroshare-ubuntu-imager). I'm trying to call it from my own /home/larry folder. The file that must be run from /home/larry/distroshare-ubuntu-imager has a #!/bin/bash first line. What I'm trying to accomplish is to create a way to execute that #!/bin/bash file from my /home/larry folder.

Using your example for my case:

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#!/bin/sh
cd distroshare-ubuntu-imager
sudo bash distroshare-ubuntu-imager.sh

Should this work after marking it as executable?

[gm10]

That would work (the bash in there is optional if you've got a shebang), although I do not understand why you wouldn't just call it directly.

[Larry78723]

I'm trying to do it this way because I can never remember that long folder name. Now how do I set it up so I don't need to enter my password for the sudo command?

[gm10]

I'm trying to do it this way because I can never remember that long folder name. Now how do I set it up so I don't need to enter my password for the sudo command?

You could add the folder to the path.

For a sudo exemption you can run

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sudo visudo

and then add something like this

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ALL ALL = NOPASSWD:/home/larry/distroshare-ubuntu-imager/distroshare-ubuntu-imager.sh

to allow every user on the system to execute that file with root privileges without having to authenticate. Remove the bash after the sudo in the previous script for this one.

[Larry78723]

gm10, rebooted after making suggested changes. Still asking for password. Any other ideas?

[rene]

You could add the folder to the path.

As a variation on that I'd simply move the initial script to ~/bin, a directory which if it exists is added to your PATH automatically. I.e., my launcher script would be, say, ~/bin/imager, consisting of

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#!/bin/sh
cd ~/distroshare-ubuntu-imager && sudo ./distroshare-ubuntu-imager.sh

and marked executable. If your ~/bin didn't exist before now, restart the terminal after creating it, otherwise should be fine immediately. As another slight variation I personally tend to deploy /etc/sudoers.d. I.e., I'd (as root) create a file /etc/sudoers.d/distroshare-ubuntu-imager,

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larry ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /home/larry/distroshare-ubuntu-imager/distroshare-ubuntu-imager.sh

with "larry" replaced by your username and give correct permissions with sudo chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/distroshare-ubuntu-imager. This has a mostly documentation benefit over editing /etc/sudoers itself: a simple ls -l /etc/sudoers.d will document your password(-less) or other access tweaks if you keep to one file per executable or purpose. Yes, you should also make sure to mark /home/larry/distroshare-ubuntu-imager/distroshare-ubuntu-imager.sh executable in that instance for sudo's benefit (i.e., it seeing that script itself rather than bash being executed).

[gm10]

gm10, rebooted after making suggested changes. Still asking for password. Any other ideas?

You don't need to reboot, just make sure you removed the bash from the script (otherwise you'd have to add it to the sudoers entry).

I'd (as root) create a file /etc/sudoers.d/distroshare-ubuntu-imager,

Please keep doing that via visudo (-x output_file parameter) for it performs a sanity check on your changes. Otherwise you can end up in the situation that you make a typo in that file and break your sudo access.

[rene]

Alternatively, don't make typos.

[gm10]

Alternatively, don't make typos.

I call it fuzzy typing, it's an advanced technique.

[Larry78723]

Thanks folks, it's working just the way I want it to. I'll bookmark this in case I need it sometime.

rene, I always use copy/paste to avoid typos. If there is one, it was supplied by someone else.