su-exec

This linux node.js module make it simple to execute outer executable with root privilege, similar to sudo.

This module requires root when initializing, so your app should be started as root. Do NOT forget to drop root privilege using process.setuid() and process.setgid().

It keeps a tiny background process to get root privilege, living with the current node process.

How to Use

Install with npm install su-exec.

It should be initialized with suExec.init() once before used. The node process should has root privilege at that moment.

Then exec with suExec.execFile(file, argv, options, cb), or suExec.execPath(file, argv, options, cb). The execPath method could search executables in PATH (just like what shell does).

var suExec = require('su-exec');
 
suExec.init();
 
process.setgid('nogroup');
process.setuid('nobody');
 
suExec.execFile('/usr/bin/whoami', ['/usr/bin/whoami'], {
    stdin: '/dev/null',
    stdout: '/dev/null',
    stderr: '/dev/null'
}, function(err, status, signal){
    // execute when child exit
});

Available options are stdin, stdout, and stderr, indicating the files which should be redirected. They are "/dev/null" by default.

There is also a suExec.destroy() to end the background root process.

LICENSE

MIT