[issue34709] Suggestion: make getuser.getpass() also look at SUDO_USER environment variable

[Zachary Ware]

Zachary Ware  added the comment:

I agree with Steven in that I'm not quite sure this is a good change, but I 
also see that it would be useful in some cases.  Perhaps either a 
`check_sudo_user=False` keyword-only parameter, or a `vars_to_check=()` parameter would be better?

Adding Gregory P. Smith as the last person to have added their name to 
getpass.py :)

--
nosy: +gregory.p.smith, zach.ware

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[issue34709] Suggestion: make getuser.getpass() also look at SUDO_USER environment variable

[Amos S]

Amos S  added the comment:

The use of environment variables like USER and LOGNAME instead of getuid() etc 
is done in order to try to get "who really initiated this process?" rather than 
"who this process belongs to?". This is hidden today when SUDO_USER is ignored.

This also fits my interpretation of the function's documentation: 'Return the 
"login name" of the user.'

For instance, in a system I use I have to sudo to a system user other than root 
in order to execute certain scripts and this patch would reveal the original 
user who executed the sudo command.

I updated the test case already in the existing PR.

I update to the documentation to list SUDO_USER.

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[issue34709] Suggestion: make getuser.getpass() also look at SUDO_USER environment variable

[Steven D'Aprano]

Steven D'Aprano  added the comment:

Versions 3.7 and below are all in feature-freeze, so this change could only 
apply to 3.8 and above.

I don't know if this feature is desirable or not.

If it is (sometimes?) desirable, my guess is that it would be undesirable to 
use SUDO_USER *unless* the effective user ID was 0. (Don't check for the name 
"root", that's only a convention.) In pseudocode:

names = ('LOGNAME', 'USER', 'LNAME', 'USERNAME')
if effective user ID == 0:
names = ('SUDO_USER',) + names
for name in names:
...


Also needs documentation and tests.

--
nosy: +steven.daprano
versions:  -Python 2.7, Python 3.4, Python 3.5, Python 3.6, Python 3.7

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[issue34709] Suggestion: make getuser.getpass() also look at SUDO_USER environment variable

[Karthikeyan Singaravelan]

Change by Karthikeyan Singaravelan :


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nosy: +xtreak

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[issue34709] Suggestion: make getuser.getpass() also look at SUDO_USER environment variable

[Amos S]

Change by Amos S :


--
keywords: +patch
pull_requests: +8903
stage:  -> patch review

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[issue34709] Suggestion: make getuser.getpass() also look at SUDO_USER environment variable

[Amos S]

New submission from Amos S :

When doing "sudo python-script.py", the output of "getpass.getuser()" is pretty 
much useless for what it's used (I assume mainly logging and tracking purposes, 
that's what we use it for ourselves).

I worked around this limitation by using it in expression likes:

  username = os.environ.get("SUDO_USER") or getpass.getuser()

I think it'll be useful to many other users if getpass.getuser() could 
integrate this behavior.

I'd love to provide the code change if this is approved.

--
messages: 325511
nosy: Amos S
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Suggestion: make getuser.getpass() also look at SUDO_USER environment 
variable
type: enhancement
versions: Python 2.7, Python 3.4, Python 3.5, Python 3.6, Python 3.7, Python 3.8

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