Linux Run Command As Another User
mouse 183 · person cloud · link
HowTo
Linux
Terminal
Last update
2023-11-29
2023
11-29
«runuser, su, sudo»

runuser

Only root can use it, no password asked, less overhead than others.

1
2
3
4
5
runuser -u username -- command args

# -l = login shell, -P = allocate a pty
runuser -l  userNameHere -c 'command args'
runuser -P -l  userNameHere -c '/user/bin/bash -ilc "command args"'

Note: You can also use #!/usr/bin/env -S bash -il shebang in a command script to get the real final user environment.

sudo

Asks user password.

1
2
3
# -i = login shell, -u = username
sudo -iu username # open default shell for `username`
sudo -iu username command args

su

Asks target password.

1
2
3
# - or --login = login shell
su - # open root shell
su - username -c "command args"

Source: nixCraft