---
source: https://jimeh.me/blog/2010/built-in-sudo-for-ruby-command-line-tools/
date: 2010-02-22
archive: jimeh.me
tags:
  - ruby
  - development
---

# Built-in Sudo for Ruby Command-Line Tools

A simple Ruby method to automatically re-run your script with sudo if it needs
root access.

![Built-in Sudo for Ruby Command-Line Tools](https://jimeh.me/_astro/gabriel-heinzer-4Mw7nkQDByk-unsplash.PV0FxCrc.jpg)

I was looking through [my gists](http://gist.github.com/jimeh) today on GitHub,
and decided I'd do a couple of posts on some of the pieces of code I've put up
there. The first of which is the `sudome` Ruby method.

Ever written a command-line tool in Ruby that requires root access for one
reason or another? The simplest way to achieve this is to have the end user call
the command via `sudo`. It's not the most elegant solution there is, but it
works.

A more elegant solution might be what the
[Fink Project](http://www.finkproject.org/) is doing with their `fink` command.
It doesn't need to be run via `sudo`, as it calls it within itself. Meaning that
when you run `fink`, you'll be prompted to type your password, just as if you
had used `sudo`. Some might argue that this is not good practice, and they are
probably right. But it all depends on the details of what you're doing.

A while back I was working on something which the best solution was to make sure
the tool always runs as root. To get identical functionality as Fink, I wrote
the very simple method shown below:

```ruby
def sudome
  if ENV["USER"] != "root"
    exec("sudo #{ENV['_']} #{ARGV.join(' ')}")
  end
end
```

Simply call `sudome` as early as possible in your code. If needed it will re-run
your script with `sudo`, requiring the user to type his password, at which point
your script then has full root access to the system.

Source: [Original Gist on GitHub](http://gist.github.com/239876)