Bash answer prompt

 
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Homework and Emergencies Emergency UNIX and Linux Support Bash answer prompt
# 1  
Old 01-21-2011
Bash answer prompt

I am working with a script to simplyfy some operations where I work, but one of the programs needs me to enter a password.
It will as me "Please enter the administrator password:"
Is there a way to make a bash script to automatically answer the question with the needed password?

I am looking at either have the password in clear text directly in the script, or read the script from a file only readable by a certain user.

I know, none of them are "secure" as the password prompt is there to create security, but the security is not really needed for us, right now it's more a bother to us.

I have been trying with things such as:
# program remove -Uadmin < /home/user/passwd_file
or as another suggestion was:
# yes password | program remove -Uadmin
# 2  
Old 01-21-2011
Which application is asking for the password? Have you considered using expect?
This User Gave Thanks to ilikecows For This Post:
# 3  
Old 01-21-2011
I'm guessing the application reads from TTY since redirecting from STDIN didn't work. As "ilikecows" said, check with "expect". If "program" is actually "sudo", then I can help you with that ... there's a NOPASSWD option you can add to certain user-command pairs so this doesnt happen. If it's ssh, you should use a public/private keypair for that user.
This User Gave Thanks to otheus For This Post:
# 4  
Old 01-21-2011
Thank you ilikecows, expect did the job Smilie
I didn't know about it until now Smilie

The program asking for the password is a program made specifically for our organization, so even if I told you the name, I am quite sure you wouldn't know what it's all about. Smilie
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