Run a command that requires sudo after a time has passed

Solution 1:

Use sudo to start a root shell where you run the commands:

sudo bash -c 'sleep 4h; command'

Every command running in the root shell runs with root permissions, which for sleep doesn’t hurt. If you need to run a command with user permissions in it, use sudo -u USERNAME COMMAND, e.g.:

$ sudo bash -c 'sleep 4h; sudo -u dessert whoami; whoami'
dessert  # whoami run as user dessert
root     # whoami run as root

Another approach would be to use sudo visudo to allow the command’s execution without root access, see: How to allow execution without prompting for password using sudo?
Note that depending on the command this may create a security flaw.

Solution 2:

Assuming you only want to run the process once (not, e.g. every 4 hours) then you can use atd

1. Ensure that atd is running (in ubuntu that is /etc/init.d/atd status or better still systemctl status atd)

2. At a terminal as root run your command as follows:

   # at now + 4 hours
   warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
   at> command
   at> CTRL-D
   

3. If you want to run it every 4 hours you could also use cron (as root) with the following config in your crontab

   0 */4 * * * sh -c $'/path/to/command'
   

Solution 3:

One way is to run via a shellscript with sudo permissions (and give the password, when you start the shellscript), if the shellscript is in the current directory,

sudo ./delayer 4h

where delayer can be a shellscript with the content

#!/bin/bash
sleep "$1"
command

Make it executable with

chmod +x delayer

and copy or move it to a directory in PATH if you wish.

If you want a more flexible shellscript, where you can select the command [line] to delay by entering parameter(s), you can try

#!/bin/bash

if [ $# -lt 2 ] || [ "$(whoami)" != "root" ]
then
 echo "Delay start of command, that needs 'sudo'
Usage:    sudo $0 <delay> <command line>
Example:  sudo $0 4h parted -ls"
 exit
fi

sleep "$1"
shift
"$@"

Demo example (short delay, 5s, for demo purpose),

$ ./delayer
Delay start of command, that needs 'sudo'
Usage:    sudo ./delayer <delay> <command line>
Example:  sudo ./delayer 4h parted -ls

$ sudo ./delayer 5s parted /dev/sdc p
[sudo] password for sudodus: 
Model: Kanguru SS3 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 15,9GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name     Flags
 2      1049kB  2097kB  1049kB               primary  bios_grub
 3      2097kB  258MB   256MB   fat32        primary  boot, esp
 4      258MB   2274MB  2016MB               primary
 5      2274MB  12,5GB  10,2GB  ext2         primary
 1      12,5GB  15,9GB  3394MB  ntfs         primary  msftdata