Will I be prompted for the sudo password a second time?

Question

This is what I plan to do:

#!/bin/bash

sudo -i <<'EOF'
iptables-save | awk '/^[*]/ { print $1 } 
                 /^:[A-Z]+ [^-]/ { print $1 " ACCEPT" ; }
                 /COMMIT/ { print $0; }' | iptables-restore
EOF

I will save the above and call it cleariptables.sh. I will set it as executable.

It will be placed in a folder called bin in the following path: /home/cymbal/bin/

(where cymbal is the username)

I will create a shortcut to cleariptables.sh on the desktop. The contents of the shortcut will be:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=true
Icon[en_US]=nm-device-wired
Name[en_US]=ClearIPtables
Exec=gksudo /home/cymbal/bin/cleariptables.sh
Comment[en_US]=Flush iptables filters
Name=ClearIPtables
Comment=Flush iptables script
Icon=nm-device-wired

Whenever I click on the desktop shortcut, I will be prompted to enter the password and the script will run.

Question: Clicking on the desktop shortcut prompts me for the password. As there is a sudo -i in the script, will I be prompted again for the password?

Answer 1

No, you should not be prompted for a password again. The script will be running as root due to the gksudo. In my experience, sudo never asks for password if you are already root (although I couldn't find this explicitly documented).

Answer 2

You can use NOPASSWD directive in your sudoers file.

Add this line to your /etc/sudoers file

your_login ALL = (root) NOPASSWD: /path/to/your/script

When editing this file, you should use the visudo command instead of a regular text editor. This will check for syntax errors before saving your changes.