Run GUI commands as other users, without having to SSH to that user account.

AAA_runas-README.md

runas for Unix-like Systems

Download these two files, and place them in /usr/local/bin. Chmod them to 755, and chown them to root:root.

Then, perform the following command:

runas -u someuser command

or

runas -v command

or

runas -v -u anotheruser command

This is useful for starting scripts as other users, with a full GUI.

By amending line 68 of the "runas" script, you could make this be your "standard" way to run virtual machines (runas -u virtualbox virtualbox)

runas

die_with_message() {
  echo $1
  exit 1
}

usage() {
  echo "This script allows you to become another user to perform a GUI command"
  echo "Usage:"
  echo "$0 [-v] [-u NAME] [command]"
  echo ""
  echo "Options are:"
  echo "  -v      | --verbose   = Enable verbose mode"
  echo "  -u NAME | --user NAME = Specify the username (default root)"
  echo "  -h      | --help      = This help"
}

RunAsUser=""
Verbose=""

# Heavily based on
# http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/scripting/posparams#production_examples

while :
do
  case "$1" in
    -h | --help)
      usage
      exit 0
      ;;
    -u | --user)
      if [ -z "$2" ] || [ "${2:0:1}" == "-" ]; then
        echo "Must supply a user for the -u/--user option." >&2
        usage
        exit 2
      fi
      if [ -n "$RunAsUser" ]; then
        echo "The -u/--user option can only be passed once." >&2
        usage
        exit 2
      fi
      RunAsUser="$2"
      if [ $(id -u $RunAsUser 2>/dev/null || echo -1) -eq -1 ]; then
        echo "No such user as $RunAsUser." >&2
        usage
        exit 2
      fi
      shift 2
      ;;
    -v | --verbose)
      Verbose="verbose"
      shift
      ;;
    --)
      shift
      break;
      ;;
    -*)
      echo "Error: Unknown option: $1" >&2
      exit 1
      ;;
    *)
      break
      ;;
  esac
done

if [ -z "$RunAsUser" ]; then
  RunAsUser="$(id -un 0)"
fi

if [ -n "$DISPLAY" ] && [ -n "$1" ]; then
  CURRENTDISPLAY="$(echo $DISPLAY | cut -d ':' -f 2 | cut -d '.' -f 1 | sed -e s/^/:/)"
  MYXAUTH=$(xauth list || die_with_message "Unable to obtain XAuthority to run this command...")
  DPYNAME="$(echo $MYXAUTH | grep "$CURRENTDISPLAY" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)"
  PROTONAME="$(echo $MYXAUTH | grep "$CURRENTDISPLAY" | cut -d ' ' -f 3)"
  HEXKEY="$(echo $MYXAUTH | grep "$CURRENTDISPLAY" | cut -d ' ' -f 5)"
fi
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
  if [ -n "$Verbose" ]; then
    echo "CMD: sudo -u $RunAsUser -i"
  fi
  sudo -u "$RunAsUser" -i
else
  if [ -n "$Verbose" ]; then
    echo "CMD: sudo -u $RunAsUser -i -- xauth_exec $DISPLAY $DPYNAME $PROTONAME $HEXKEY $@"
  fi
  sudo -u "$RunAsUser" -i -- xauth_exec "$DISPLAY" "$DPYNAME" "$PROTONAME" "$HEXKEY" "$@"
fi

xauth_exec

#! /bin/bash
export DISPLAY=$1
shift
xauth add $1 $2 $3
shift 3
"$@"