Develop Reference

Call from Java to run an executable as a different user

Question:
I have to call an exe file passing 2 string arguments. The call has to get executed as a different user
I referred few of the links that I got from hints. Couple of them were using powershell, few were using runas examples and so on.
But with powershell also, I am not sure if I will face the issue of "cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system".
Just because of this reason, I want to try something authentic.
Tried following approaches
Trying to do it through a call with RunAs command is making my life difficult. (called a batch file with RunAs command passing a separate pass.txt or savecred). savecred was ruled out by most people. Other one did not work as expected.
Powershell, has issues wherein, I always get a userid/password popup, even though I run through a Java file.
I also get an error in the command prompt as here below
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [New-Object], MethodExcept
ion
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ConstructorInvokedThrowException,Microsoft.Power
Shell.Commands.NewObjectCommand
(Sample code attached below)
public class SamplePS {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
String command = "powershell C:\\Users\\Ramu\\Project\\SampleFile.ps1";
//String cmds[] = {"C:\\Windows\\system32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe", "\\c", "SampleFile.ps"};
System.out.println("1");
Process proc = runtime.exec(command);
InputStream is = proc.getErrorStream();
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(is);
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(isr);
String line;
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null)
{
System.out.println(line);
}
System.out.println("2");
}
}
My ps1 file is as here below
$credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential <<domain>>\<<user id>>, <<password>>
start-process cmd.exe -arg "/k dir" -Credential $credential
What is the best way to handle this scenario?
Please suggest! I am not sure what approach to take.
Powershell or Perl or any other scripting.
Whatever it be, I have to make a call from Java file.
Please suggest!
Note: For time being, I dont mind the password being sent as a plain text.
The exe file is in Windows machine
Thanks!
Ram

Trying to use xcopy within Java to copy a folder

I'm trying to execute a command line to copy a folder, but nothing happens . I tried the same command from the command line and it worked fine.
code
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
String line;
try {
Process pr = rt.exec("xcopy //E //I notts nots2");
InputStreamReader mInputStreamReader = new InputStreamReader( pr.getInputStream());
BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader( mInputStreamReader );
while ( (line = input.readLine()) != null)
System.out.println(line);
} catch (IOException e) {
ted=ted+1;
}

1) pr.getInputStream() is not enough because it will not read the error output encountered during the process execution.
You should also read the error stream : pr.getErrorStream().
2) You should specify the working directory of the process otherwise the process inherits the working directory of the current process.
For example :
Process pr = rt.exec("xcopy //E //I notts nots2", null, new File("yourWorkingDirToRunTheProcess"));

Look at the answer to this question. It explains how to consume the standard output and standard error streams of the process.
You should also consider copying files using java API methods instead of running an external process. One reason being that your command (xcopy) won't work on anything but Windows. Another reason is that running an external process is much more error prone than using standard API methods.

How do I execute an executable file from within a java file on linux?

I am trying to execute an executable file and a perl script from within a java program. I have found many topics similar to this but most of them refer to windows. I know java is platform independent and it should work anyways but it doesn't. The solution I have tried already is the one based on the java Runtime and it's exec method. It works just fine on windows but since I'm porting my program on linux I need to adapt it. As I said I need to execute an executable file that I have compiled and was written in c++ which it looks like it's working but it finishes executing with an exit value of 1. I have no idea what it means but on windows it exits with 0 and that's how it should be on linux as well (?!?!). The pearl script on the other hand does not start at all. I use the command "perl script.pl" and it exits with a value of 255. Needless to say, it doesn't do what it's supposed to.
Does anybody know another way to execute these files? Or maybe where I am wrong with my implementation?
here's the code if you want to take a look at it:
This is the one for the perl script
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println("Starting");
try{
String[] cmd = {"perl", "cloc-1.53.pl"};
Process pr = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(pr.getInputStream()));
String line=null;
while((line=input.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(line);
}
int exitVal = pr.waitFor();
System.out.println("Exit code: " + exitVal);
} catch (Throwable t){
t.printStackTrace();
}
}
For the compiled file I change this:
String[] cmd = {"perl", "cloc-1.53.pl"};
with:
String cmd = "./UCC";

There should be no differece in starting processes on windows and linux.
Good article http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2000/jw-1229-traps.html
Its for the old way but gives good insight.
Article converting to the new way:
From Runtime.exec() to ProcessBuilder

Unix Script not working in Java Process Runtime.exec()

I am developing an application in Spring Web MVC where i need to execute some of the linux script..
I am using tomcat version 5.5 for running my project in linux..
My code is looking like this :
Process proc = runtime.exec("sudo cp /var/tmp/mailserverfiles/editinterface.txt /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/editinterface.txt");
InputStream inputstream = proc.getInputStream();
InputStreamReader inputstreamreader = new InputStreamReader(inputstream);
BufferedReader bufferedreader = new BufferedReader(inputstreamreader);
String line;
while ((line = bufferedreader.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println("\nOUTPUT = " + line);
}
System.out.print("\nbefore execute6");
try {
if (proc.waitFor() != 0) {
System.err.println("\nexit value = " + proc.exitValue());
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
System.err.println("\nERROR = " + e);
}
Here i want to cp a particular file from one location to another using linux script..
But when i am executing this part, i am getting
exit value = 1
as a output.. I have also tried to put this script into .sh file and try to execute that shell script here from Java Code, but i am getting same result..
Can anybody tell me, what should be the reason for this ?
Thanks in advance..

I would guess that sudo is expecting an interactive terminal in order to ask for a password. Since there is no interactive terminal, it prints an error message to stderr and exits with an exit code of 1. You are not reading the error stream, so you won't see any message that it might print.
You will definitely want to read the error stream in any case. Doing so now will help you diagnose what is going wrong at this point.

I assume the user that Tomcat is running under has unrestricted access to sudo? And that it's not being prompted for a password?

It is possible that your search path is weird and that "cp" and "sudo" are not found when you try to execute the command.
Here are some things you could try to track down your problem(s):
Try running the "cp" command without "sudo".
Try giving the full pathname of the command(s). This will avoid search path problems.
By default "sudo" logs failed commands using syslog(3). See if you can find traces in the corresponding logfiles.

Assuming you can run your command from a command line, logged in as the tomcat user - try
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("/usr/bin/sudo", "cp",
"/var/tmp/mailserverfiles/editinterface.txt",
"/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/editinterface.txt");
pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
Process proc = pb.start();
... rest of code as before
if things still fail, start debugging. strace should be helpful. e.g. run this shell script
from your java application, and figure out where things fail in the /tmp/trace.txt file:
#!/bin/sh
strace -f sudo cp /var/tmp/mailserverfiles/editinterface.txt /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/editinterface.txt >/tmp/trace.txt 2>&1

Whilst not directly answering your question, the following will help. You need to read stdout and stderr (to capture all process output), and do this concurrently to prevent blocking of the spawned process. See this answer for more info.

Mounting and untar'ing a file in Java

I'm currently working on a web application that involves mounting a drive and extracting a tar.gz file, all in Java. Since the application runs in a linux environment, I figured I'd try using unix commands like "mount" and "tar".
Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process proc;
String mountCommand = "mount -t cifs -o username=...";
String extractCommand = "tar xzf ..."
proc = runtime.exec(mountCommand);
proc.waitFor();
proc = runtime.exec(extractCommand);
proc.waitFor();
Running the mount command and extract command in the terminal works fine, but fails when FIRST run in java. The second proc.waitFor() returns exit code 2. However, running this code after the first failed attempt works fine. I have a feeling that the problem is that waitFor() isn't waiting until the mount command is fully completed. Am I missing anything important in my code?
Also, I'd rather do this all in Java, but I had a really hard time figuring out how to untar a file, so I'm taking this approach. (oh if anyone can tell me how to do this i would be very happy). Any suggestions would be muuuuuuuuuuch appreciated!

Making progress. In case anyone was wondering, here is how I am extracting a tar.gz file in Java. Put together from a few online tutorials.
public static void extract(String tgzFile, String outputDirectory)
throws Exception {
// Create the Tar input stream.
FileInputStream fin = new FileInputStream(tgzFile);
GZIPInputStream gin = new GZIPInputStream(fin);
TarInputStream tin = new TarInputStream(gin);
// Create the destination directory.
File outputDir = new File(outputDirectory);
outputDir.mkdir();
// Extract files.
TarEntry tarEntry = tin.getNextEntry();
while (tarEntry != null) {
File destPath = new File(outputDirectory + File.separator + tarEntry.getName());
if (tarEntry.isDirectory()) {
destPath.mkdirs();
} else {
// If the parent directory of a file doesn't exist, create it.
if (!destPath.getParentFile().exists())
destPath.getParentFile().mkdirs();
FileOutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream(destPath);
tin.copyEntryContents(fout);
fout.close();
// Presserve the last modified date of the tar'd files.
destPath.setLastModified(tarEntry.getModTime().getTime());
}
tarEntry = tin.getNextEntry();
}
tin.close();
}

Quick Answer
Since a dependency on external commands exists, simplify it like this:
#!/bin/bash
mount -t cifs -o username=...
tar xzf ...
Name it mount-extract.sh then call it using a single Runtime.exec() call.
Semi-integrated Answer
Use Java APIs.
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/zip/GZIPInputStream.html
http://www.jajakarta.org/ant/ant-1.6.1/docs/ja/manual/api/org/apache/tools/tar/TarInputStream.html
You will need Runtime.exec to execute the mount command.
Forward Looking
Since Java is a cross-platform software development tool, consider abstracting the mount command in your application to be derived dynamically based on the underlying operating system.
See: How can I mount a windows drive in Java?
See: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/System.html#getProperties()
Of course, Agile development would insist that this not be done until it is needed. So keep it in the back of your mind until then (as you might never run the application on anything but Unix-based systems).

Take a look at the org.apache.tools.tar package in the Ant codebase. There is a class in that package, TarInputStream, that can be used to read tar archives.

It may be related to the way you call the method.
See this answer
Basically try using
.exec( String [] command );
instead of
.exec( String command );
I'm not sure if it is even related, because you mention it runs the second time. Give it a try and let us know.

This can all be done in Java, but you have to be aware of caveats when dealing with native processes.
The waitFor() command may not be doing what you hope: if the process you started has a child process that does the actual work you need then the waitFor(), which returns when the parent process has finished, has not allowed enough time for the child process to finish.
One way to get around this is to loop over some test to see that the native processes you started have finished to your satisfaction---in this case perhaps checking if some java.io.File exists.