Running sh script through AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges

Question

Hi,

I'm running an uninstallation script through cocoa app, and I noticed that launchctl command doesn't get executed.

This is the part of the code that calls script (which contains sudo launchctl unload "name of the daemon")

//pFileName is the name of the File

NSString* pPath = [pCurrentBundle pathForResource:pFileName ofType:@"sh"];
char* const ppArgs[] = {const_cast<char*>([pPath fileSystemRepresentation]), NULL};

OSStatus status =  AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges(m_AuthorizationRef, "/bin/sh", kAuthorizationFlagDefaults, ppArgs, NULL);

Since all other script commands get executed properly (and it unloads fine in terminal), I am guessing that I don't have same privilege as root (both EUID and RUID being 0) as TN2083 states.

Has anyone encountered it before? Did you find any solutions?

Answer 1

First, you shouldn't be using sudo inside of a script that is already running as root. Under the default Mac setup it shouldn't cause a problem, but it depends on how the user has configured sudoers. This still would be my biggest suspicion of what's breaking.

Next, are you getting any error messages to console when this runs? You mentioned that other things are running; are they before or after this? Are you checking the unix error result from this script line?

I'll assume you've read Creating launchd Daemons and Agents.

You say that the script is running, so I'll assume that it actually has the extension .sh and that pFileName does not include the ".sh".

TN2083 makes no reference to AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges. What do you mean by "as TN2083 states?"

I assume you don't have setuid bits set on the script, correct? That will give you trouble with AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges.