How can I set a users password in linux from a python script?

Question

I'm trying to automate the setup of SFTP access. This script is running as a user with sudo permissions and no password.

I can create a user like so:

>>> import subprocess
>>> process = subprocess.Popen(['sudo', 'useradd', 'test'], shell=False, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
>>> process.communicate()
('', '')

Next I need to set the user's password, but I can't figure out how. Here's what I've tried.

>>> process = subprocess.Popen(['sudo', 'chpasswd'], shell=False, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
>>> process.communicate('test:password')

In my python program it has no effect, in the interactive interpreter it locks up after the first line.

What's the best way to do this?

I'm running python 2.6 on Ubuntu lucid.

Answer 1

Try below code which will do as you required automation

from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, check_call  
check_call(['useradd', 'test'])   
proc=Popen(['passwd', 'test'],stdin=PIPE,stdout=PIPE,stderr=PIPE)  
proc.stdin.write('password\n')  
proc.stdin.write('password')  
proc.stdin.flush()  
stdout,stderr = proc.communicate()  
print stdout  
print stderr

print statements are optional.