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I got a script requiring sudo, but the script must set parameters according to the original user, such as:

chown "${USER}:${USER}" dir

If I set it under sudo, I just end up with chmod root:root, which doesn't help.

So how can I get the user name before sudo?

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3 Answers 3

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13

The environment variable SUDO_USER should work as a replacement for USER.

Since you are setting the ownership to USER:USER I assume there is always a group with the same name as the user? A more strict solution might otherwise be to use SUDO_UID and SUDO_GID.

Two possible solutions would then be:

chown "${SUDO_USER}:${SUDO_USER}" dir

or

chown "${SUDO_UID}:${SUDO_GID}" dir
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  • Nice anwser, with the solution AND some additional infos. Commented Nov 30, 2009 at 13:43
  • Using the UID/GID is the best solution, as it is possible to have multiple UIDs with the same username. Commented Nov 30, 2009 at 13:46
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You can use the SUDO_USER variable:

sudo bash -c 'echo $SUDO_USER'

From the sudo man page:

sudo utilizes the following environment variables. The security policy has control over the actual content of the command's environment. [...]

SUDO_UID Set to the user ID of the user who invoked sudo.

SUDO_USER Set to the login name of the user who invoked sudo.

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  • But why sudo echo $SUDO_USER outputs nothing? Commented Jul 18, 2019 at 14:14
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SUDO_USER can be overwritten by the user.

 $ SUDO_USER='lala' sudo SUDO_USER='test' printenv | grep USER
 USER=root
 SUDO_USER=test
 USERNAME=root

You should use 'who am i' or 'logname' to get the original username

toto:~$ SUDO_USER='lala' sudo SUDO_USER='test' logname             
toto
toto:~$ SUDO_USER='lala' sudo SUDO_USER='test' who am i
toto   pts/4        Jan 23 15:13 (:0.0)

Coming from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4598001/how-do-you-find-the-original-user-through-multiple-sudo-and-su-commands

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5
  • After running 'sudo su -' the environment variables aren't available, but logname and who am i work. Commented Mar 3, 2015 at 1:47
  • You're right, it's not possible to rely on environment variable. Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 10:09
  • Found on some host that SUDO_USER can't be overwritten: sudo: sorry, you are not allowed to set the following environment variables: SUDO_USER So it may still be safe, should still verify this. Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 8:31
  • It's because my command is set as "NOPASSWD", so it depends on your sudoers configuration via "NOSETENV". Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 8:49
  • It appears that neither of these commands work in situations where there's no login, which at least includes WSL and docker. Commented Oct 18, 2024 at 1:17

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