Problem with sudo in a script

[TheJanitor]

Hi, i have a slight problem with a script. the below script was just to make using jailkit easier. the problem is when i use the parameter --start.

the specific line is

sudo chrootuid "$jail" "$jailuser" "$jailedbinary" &

chrootui just lowers the user privileges after the process is running in the jail, the & is so i can close the ssh session after it is launched.

The problem is, when i execute this line of code, i get some terminal spam.

$ [sudo] password for axe: Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for axe: Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for axe: Sorry, try again.
sudo: 3 incorrect password attempts

it doesn't even prompt me for a password. The only workaround is if i use sudo before hand to get superuser privs, then run it.

any ideas what is going wrong?


thanks.



here is the whole script.

#!/bin/bash

jail="/home/mldonkeyjail"
jailuser="mldonkeyjail"
jailedbinary="/usr/bin/mlnet"
binarybasename=$(basename "$jailedbinary")

if [ "$1" == "--help" ]; then
	echo -e "location:\t/bin"
	echo -e "usage:\t\tjail OPTION... PARAMETER..."
	echo -e "\n\t--update"
	echo -e "\t--copy\t\t- must specify a target binary"
	echo -e "\t--ps\t\t- lists running jailed processes"
	echo -e "\t--start\t\t- user and target binary are specified in the script"
	echo -e "\t--killall\t- kills the process specified in the script ( $binarybasename )"	
	echo ""
elif [ "$1" == "--update" ]; then
	sudo jk_update -vj "$jail"
elif [ "$1" == "--copy" ] || [ "$1" == "--cp" ];then
	if [ "$2" == "" ]; then
		echo ":: you need to specify a target binary"
	else
		sudo jk_cp -fov -j "$jail" "$2"
	fi

elif [ "$1" == "--ps" ]; then
	sudo jk_list
elif [ "$1" == "--start" ]; then
	sudo chrootuid "$jail" "$jailuser" "$jailedbinary" &
elif [ "$1" == "--killall" ]; then
	sudo killall "$binarybasename"
else
	echo ":: unknown command"	
fi

[TheJanitor]

turns out that backgrounding that line with & interferes with sudo, since the entire command is backgrounded before sudo prompts. a fix is to use the -b with sudo. ie, sudo -b <command>.


Thanks.