Running external commands through os/exec under another user

go exec sudo
mcuadros picture mcuadros · Feb 11, 2014 · Viewed 8.9k times · Source

Using the os/exec package, I want to run an external command on a *nix OS, on behalf of another user (of course go process run under root user of another user with su privileges)

I want avoid "su" or "bash" commands and make it purely with go.

I made an approach using syscall.Setuid but this will change the user to the main project, I just need change the user to the external child process:

func (self *Command) LoseTo(username string) {
   u, err := user.Lookup(username)
   if err != nil {
      fmt.Printf("%v", err)
   }

   uid, err := strconv.Atoi(u.Uid)
   if err := syscall.Setuid(uid); err != nil {
      fmt.Printf("%v", err)
   }
}

Answer

JimB picture JimB · Feb 11, 2014

You can add a syscall.Credential struct to Cmd.SysProcAttr

cmd := exec.Command(command, args...)
cmd.SysProcAttr = &syscall.SysProcAttr{}
cmd.SysProcAttr.Credential = &syscall.Credential{Uid: uid, Gid: gid}

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