UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi all,

having read lots of posts about SU I don't quiet understand this :

I'm doing regular backups of my database (u betta do) and therefore use su - username -c "sqlscript special data_base" in a unixscript which is even using cron. (yep!)

Now I need some other script, still with this database, to do some updates to it, nightly.

Manually, I can run the usual command (being root) as above but the problem is that I can't get out of it unless keying exit in. Even keying exit between the quotes doesn't work.

When keying exit in at commandline, I get back to my root-shell and the script is launched correctly.

Any idea would be greatfully accepted!

Please show us an example of the command that does not work in your script.

Ok, there you go :

As root.

su - dbuser -c "customers.exe upd_prclst"

or

su - dbuser -c "customers.exe upd_prclst;exit"

is putting me into a new shell as user dbuser.

This user then has full access to all of his environment but the prog customers.exe upd_prclst is not ran.

I then key in an exit command which puts me back to the root environment. The prog is executed ok in the dbuser shell.

I suppose there must be a CTRL-D or something missing but

Look carefully at dbuser's .profile or other startup script. Does he exec a new shell or something?

Ahhhaahh !!!

You are right!

Why this has been done this way ... dunno but in fact, the .profile is executing another script which is executing ksh -o vi at the end of it.
I don't know yet wheather this is important or not but I made a copy of the user and deleted the ksh command.

It works ok now.

Great!

Thanks a lot!