CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxbashubuntu
mitchkman
mitchkman

Reputation: 6680

Multiline write fails (Permission denied)

I would like to write a multiline string to a file that is only accessible with root permissions.

This is what I have so far:

sudo cat > /etc/init/myservice.conf <<EOL
start on runlevel [2345]

stop on runlevel [06]

respawn

script

    cd ~/somefolder

    . venv/bin/activate

    exec python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8080

end script
EOL

When this command, all I get is "Permission Denied". Creating the file manually works.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 797

Answers (1)

chepner
chepner

Reputation: 531430

The output redirection is processed before sudo runs, so you are still trying to open the file as yourself, not as root. One option is to use tee instead of cat, since tee, rather than the current shell, will open the file for writing.

sudo tee /etc/init/myservice.conf > /dev/null <<EOF
start on runlevel [2345]

stop on runlevel [06]

respawn

script

  cd ~/somefolder

  . venv/bin/activate

  exec python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8080

end script
EOF

While the delimiter used doesn't really matter, it makes more sense to use something that indicates end of file, rather than end of line :) tee actually writes its input to both the named file(s) and standard output, but you don't need to see what you are writing, hence the redirection to /dev/null.

Upvotes: 8

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