How can I ask for root password but perform the action at a later time?

Question

I have a python script that I would like to add a "Shutdown when done" feature to.

I know I can use gksudo (when the user clicks on "shutdown when done") to ask the user for root privileges but how can I use those privileges at a later time (when the script is actually finished).

I have thought about chmod u+s on the shutdown command so I don't need a password but I really don't want to do that.

Any ideas how I can achieve this?

Thanks in advance, Ashy.

Answer 1

gksudo should have a timeout, I believe it's from the time you last executed a gksudo command.

So I think I'd just throw out a "gksudo echo meh" or something every minute. Should reset the timer and keep you active until you reboot.

Answer 2

Escalate priority, spawn (fork (2)) a separate process that will wait (2), and drop priority in the main process.

Answer 3

Instead of chmod u+sing the shutdown command, allowing passwordless sudo access to that command would be better..

As for allowing shutdown at the end of the script, I suppose you could run the entire script with sudo, then drop privileges to the initial user at the start of the script?