How do I run a shell script as root (sudo)?

Question

I have a SVN repository server that runs under the repository user. I want to run a script after every post-commit action. I wrote a shell script that runs from the hook after every commit. It needs to be run as root. This is why I used sudo in the script, but it didn't work. Is there any way to run the script as root?

sudo su
echo "password"
svn export --force file:///home/repository/trunk/ /home/memarexweb/public_html/devel/
chmod -R 777 /home/memarexweb/public_html/devel/

Answer 1

I was searching around and found this useful solution:

Edit your sudoers file to allow running certain commands without a password.

It's best to split your post-commit script into two parts, one of which will be run through sudo.

• entry in /etc/sudoers:

  loqman    ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/local/bin/svn-postcommit-export
  

• Your post-commit hook:

  #!/bin/sh
  sudo /usr/local/bin/svn-postcommit-export
  

• Script /usr/local/bin/svn-postcommit-export:

  #!/bin/sh
  svn export --force file:///home/repository/trunk/ /home/memarexweb/public_html/devel/
  chmod -R 777 /home/memarexweb/public_html/devel/
  

  (You can choose any name and put the script anywhere; I just suggested svn-postcommit-export as an example, and /usr/local/bin as a common location.)