How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script?

prad001 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi All, I have a situation where in I am calling the below Perl script

if (param("lremail") && param("lot")) {
    my $address=param("lremailaddress");
    my $lot=param("lot");
    print a({-href=>"$dir/new.pl"},"Back to Top"),br;
    print "Request submitted for $address.",br;
    print "Lot $lot",br;
    print "You will receive an e-mail with a link to the data when the
+ request is complete.";
    print end_html;
    system ("ssh SERVERNAME /test/abc.csh $lot $$ $address &");
    exit(1);
[download]

The above script does not run because, when I execute the script its asking for a system password. Then I researched a little and wrote the below command..

expect -c 'spawn ssh SERVERNAME /test/abc.csh J213520 06 abc@gmail.com
+ "ls -lh file"; expect "Password:"; send "PASSWORD\r"; interact'
[download]

Now this command is executed successfully without any issue but from the command line only. When I incorporate the same(by replacing the system call) within the Perl script, it fails. How can I incorporate this line within the perl script?

Comment on How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script? Select or Download Code

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Re: How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script? by Corion (Patriarch) on Jul 12, 2022 at 15:16 UTC
Consider using a (passwordless) SSH key to store the access credentials for the remote machine. Your `expect` call likely fails because `expect` or `ssh` wants a (pseudo-)terminal connected to do their stuff.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script? by prad001 (Initiate) on Jul 13, 2022 at 12:51 UTC
The expect command works fine from the command line but I am not sure how to incorporate that in to the perl script that I have mentioned..!	[reply]
Re: How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script? by atcroft (Abbot) on Jul 13, 2022 at 03:11 UTC
Just to reinforce what tybalt89 said, there are several Expect-related modules in perl. Among them are: Expect Expect::Simple Net::SSH::Expect Net::SSH2::Expect If I've left out someone's favorite, I apologize--I think I have used each of those in the past on various projects. I should note there are also several modules that play nicely with Expect, such as Net::OpenSSH and its variants. I would suggest you take Corion's suggestion to heart and consider looking at (passwordless) SSH key access. Under OpenSSH keys can be locked down to allow only from a particular set of hosts and/or to allow execution of only certain commands you specify, both of which may prove useful in increasing the security of the system you are assembling. Hope that helps.	[reply]
Re^2: How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script? by Fletch (Bishop) on Jul 13, 2022 at 10:48 UTC
There’s also IPC::Run which will let you drive a subprocess while looking for responses with regexen. And seconding being careful locking down what can be run especially something accessible via a web server. Might even consider a harder separation like maybe enqueuing requests that something else (not running as your httpd user) then runs with the elevated access separately (Minion, or dropping in a db, or a file in a directory monitored by something to run things, …). The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie. The cake is a lie.	[reply]
Re: How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script? by tybalt89 (Monsignor) on Jul 12, 2022 at 20:59 UTC
perl has an Expect.pm	[reply]
Re: How to incorporate Expect in Perl Script? OR Pass the password via perl script? (plz stop reposting) by LanX (Saint) on Jul 12, 2022 at 15:08 UTC
please stop reloading /reposting your question, youve already created half a dozen duplicates! Cheers Rolf _{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :) Wikisyntax for the Monastery}	[reply]


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