Another option.

The sudoers file allows you to specify that certain commands can be run by specific users as other users without a password. Scan its documentation for NOPASSWD for the syntax (unfortunately without any examples, nor do I have one handy).

This combines the advantages of the two solutions that you list.

In reply to Re: Running Perl program w/root privs via cron by Anonymous Monk
in thread Running Perl program w/root privs via cron by virtualsue

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