Strange Bash Behaviour

[jmadero]

Hi All,

I've set up a bash file that looks like this:

#!/bin/bash

sudo /etc/init.d/vpnclient_init start

sudo ifconfig eth0 down

vpnclient connect UCIFull

it's to VPN into my work office computers. It works great when I directly go to the file. I tried setting up a link to it within my applications so that I didn't have to terminal to it every time:

gksu bash /home/user/Documents/Computer/Scripts/vpn.sh

so the strange behaviour is that it almost always does one of two things when I use the link within my applications list:

1. It starts the script, then it has strange ? marks where it's asking for user name and password, then it just crashes and terminal closes

2. It asks for username and stops at this point, doesn't close, just hangs.


So why would calling it from within my menus be different from going to terminal and doing it that way? I have the link set up to run from terminal so it should be identical...shouldn't it?

[whych]

You are asking the script to run as su with the lines that begin with sudo, so the system is asking for the root pwd.
The script has to either be run as root (without the sudo), or perhaps try changing it's ownership to root and allowing users or whatever group you want to run the script to execute it.
If you don't have to be root to start the vpn client, run it as a normal user (no sudo).

[jmadero]

needs to be root, so basically I can't make a link to it? that would be a bit....disfunctional if I can't

[whych]

By typing:' sudo command_string' you are asking that the command be run as root user, so it is always going to pause the output and ask for the root pwd. To get it to run properly, you need to remove the sudo.
Can you now start and run the vpnclient as a normal user?
If not, you need to look at the script's ownership and permissions to allow a normal user or a chosen group to be able to run the script.

[jmadero]

the problem isn't that it asks for a password. I have to put in my root password when I run it in terminal manuall as well. This is the order that I do it:

sudo bash vpn.sh
root password

vpn user name
vpn password

but when I do it with the icon it does
click icon
root password

vpn user name
...hangs

so the issue isn't that it's asking for a root password