Applescript: Admin Privileges

Question

Applescript: Admin Privileges

It's my understanding that you can only use "with administrator privileges" for a shell script.

In my AppleScript, I have several statements as follows:

duplicate POSIX file "/path/to/file" to POSIX file "/path/to/file" with replacing

The new location of these files requires an administrator username and password to modify it. The script runs without error and works exactly as I intended, except that Finder asks the user to enter their password for every single file that's moved. Is there any way I can just have them enter the password once to grant permission to move all the files?

 MacBook Pro with Retina display-OTHER, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 15 in, Late 2013, 256GB, 8GB RAM

Posted on Nov 30, 2014 10:29 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

741,659 points

Nov 30, 2014 10:45 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

You can store the password and either move the files through the shell, or temporarily change the permissions on the destination folders, or start the Finder or another application as root.

(117427)

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Answer 2

twtwtw

Level 5

4,948 points

Nov 30, 2014 10:54 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

duplicate will take a list of file aliases, so rather than moving files one by one, put them all into a list and move them all at once. i.e.

duplicatelistOfFileAliasestoPOSIX file "/path/to/folder" with replacing

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Answer 3

Nov 30, 2014 11:35 AM in response to twtwtw

Thanks, I should have mentioned that each file has a different destination folder.

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Answer 4

Nov 30, 2014 11:37 AM in response to Niel

Thanks Niel, starting the Finder as root sounds like the best way. I tried to look up how to do that, but couldn't find anything. Could you offer additional guidance?

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Answer 5

Niel

Level 10

741,659 points

Nov 30, 2014 11:42 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

Use code such as:

do shell script "/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder" with administrator privileges

Note that you may need to quit the currently-open Finder before being able to work with it properly.

(117435)

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Answer 6

twtwtw

Level 5

4,948 points

Nov 30, 2014 11:47 AM in response to stevejobsfan0123

Ah, ok, try changing the permissions of the script file so that it is owned by root, and/or place the script down in the system area (say /Library/Scripts) so that it will run with raised permissions.

Restarting the Finder as root is ridiculous overkill, and will open your device to heaven-knows how many security problems. I wish people wouldn't give advice like that. It sounds cool and techy, yes, but it's like trying to swat a fly with a baseball bat, and likely to produce the same Adam Sandler movie type results.

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Answer 7

Nov 30, 2014 12:17 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

Just do the actual moving of the files with the shell in a do shell script with administrator privileges and use the tools that are already there.

From your post you already have the POSIX paths so using the shells mv command will be no harder then using duplicate

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Answer 8

Nov 30, 2014 1:39 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

I guess I may have to do that... but wouldn't I want to use cp rather than mv, as an equivalent to duplicate?

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Answer 9

Niel

Level 10

741,659 points

Nov 30, 2014 1:42 PM in response to stevejobsfan0123

Both the cp and ditto commands can be used to duplicate files. The mv one won't.

(117442)

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Answer 10

Dec 1, 2014 1:09 PM in response to Niel

OK... almost there. That part of the code works flawlessly now. The very last step of the code involves finding and removing a file. I have:

set toRemove to do shell script "sudo find /path/to/folder -name nameofthefile"

do shell script "sudo rm" + toRemove + ""

toRemove correctly stores the POSIX file path. However, once it gets to the "sudo rm" line, it gets an error. I assume it is some sort of type-conversion error?

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