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

This one is stumping me, I'm sure it must have been done before. I want to automte adding a user with Expect.pm (1.15)

use Expect;
use IO::Stty;

my $command = "adduser";
my @params = qw( --no-create-home --firstuid 4001 --ingroup clients --
+shell /bin/false --home /home/fred fred);

my $exp = Expect->new("$command @params") or die "Cannot spawn $comman
+d: $!\n";

$Expect::Exp_Internal = 1;

my $timeout = 5;

$exp->expect($timeout,
         [ 
          qr/UNIX password:/ => sub {
        my $exp = shift;
        $exp->send("sponge\n");
        exp_continue; 
          } 
         ],
         [ 
          qr/Full Name/ => sub {
        my $exp = shift;
        $exp->send("Mr Fred\n");
        exp_continue; 
          } 
         ],
         [ 
          qr/Number|Phone|Other/ => sub { 
        my $exp = shift;
        $exp->send("\n");
        exp_continue; 
          } 
         ],
         [ 
          qr/correct/ => sub { 
        my $exp = shift;
        $exp->send("y\n");
          } 
         ],
        );

[download]

I run this and get an odd timeout:

Waiting for new data (5 seconds)...
adduser: Warning: The home dir you specified does not exist.
Adding user `fred'...
Adding new user `fred' (4001) with group `clients'.
Waiting for new data (5 seconds)...
Not creating /home/fred.
Waiting for new data (5 seconds)...
Enter new UNIX password: Waiting for new data (5 seconds)...
sponge
Waiting for new data (5 seconds)...
TIMEOUT
Returning from expect with TIMEOUT or EOF

[download]

Sometimes it gets to the password confirm line and sometimes it doesn't.

--
Steve Marvell

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: expect and adduser
by Perl Mouse (Chaplain) on Oct 14, 2005 at 11:17 UTC 
    $ useradd --help
useradd: invalid option -- -
usage: useradd  [-u uid [-o]] [-g group] [-G group,...] 
                [-d home] [-s shell] [-c comment] [-m [-k template]]
                [-f inactive] [-e expire ] [-p passwd] [-M] [-n] [-r] 
+name
       useradd  -D [-g group] [-b base] [-s shell]
                [-f inactive] [-e expire ]

    [download]
    Note the -p option. (Yes, I am aware of the theoretical risks -- if that worries you, umount /proc).
    Perl --((8:>*
[reply]
[d/l]

      I have to use adduser becuase of the --firstuid option

      --
      Steve Marvell

[reply]
        But that's just a math problem. Long before we had all these fancy interactive user adding gadgets, I was writing automated tools to add users (with no interaction) in Perl version 3(!).

        I find it odd that you're trying to take a tool that was meant to be more handholding and interactive and make it less interactive. {grin}

        -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
        Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

[reply]
        On my system, adduser is just a symlink to useradd. And it doesn't have a firstuid option. However, if no uid is supplied on the command line, it picks the first available uid above 99, and above any other user.

        If I were to write such a tool (and I've done so in the past), I'd just open /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow for append (if needed /etc/group as well) and write the necessary lines. But that's just me. Or I use useradd/adduser to setup everything, but the password, and require the user to visit my office and type in his/her password.

        Perl --((8:>*
[reply]
Re: expect and adduser
by marvell (Pilgrim) on Oct 14, 2005 at 11:44 UTC

    I've narrowed it down to passwd

    my $exp = Expect->new("passwd fred") or die "Cannot spawn: $!\n";

$Expect::Exp_Internal = 1;

my $timeout = 5;

$exp->expect($timeout,
         [ 
          qr/UNIX password:/ => sub {
        my $exp = shift;
        $exp->send("sponge\n");
        exp_continue; 
          } 
         ],
        );

$exp->soft_close();

    [download]

    Get either timeout, but add a ; to the end of the command and it works fine.

    Update: that's not true, it sometimes fails

    --
    Steve Marvell

[reply]
[d/l]

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