Linux – Safe to run backup script as root? or other way to aproach privileges

backuplinuxpermissionsscripting

I'm writing a backup script in BASH on a linux machine (gentoo)

The script will backup all folders in a certain directory.

The folders will have varying privileges and belong to different users and groups.

In order to make sure my backup script has read privileges to all the the files and folders I'm tempted to run the backup script as root.

Is this safe? Are there any specific techniques to achieve this without root privileges?

Best Answer

cron is the best way to do that, and yes certain scripts need to run with root otherwise you are not able to read from users home directory with 700 privileges.

Related Solutions

Bash Scripting: Require script to be run as root (or with sudo)

To pull the effective uid use this command:

id -u

If the result is ‘0’ then the script is either running as root, or using sudo. You can run the check by doing something like:

if [[ $(/usr/bin/id -u) -ne 0 ]]; then
    echo "Not running as root"
    exit
fi

Linux – Best way to prevent the root system filling up when a mount fails

Number 5 - Put a test in your backup script to ensure that the directory is mounted before continuing. The script should fail if the mount is not available or present. Or you can just make sure things are mounted prior to running the backup.

Try the mountpoint command, which checks if a specified directory is a mountpoint:

mountpoint -q /mnt/backups || mount /mnt/backups

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Bash Scripting: Require script to be run as root (or with sudo)

Linux – Best way to prevent the root system filling up when a mount fails

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