How to allow execution without prompting for password using sudo?

I am writing a Java application where i need to do a command line execution and get a result back, but when i execute the command, it ask for sudo password. So far i tried:

$ sudo -s
$ vim /etc/sudoers
# User privilege specification
root         ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
javauser     ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

:wq
$ 4 -r--r-----   1 root root     615 2011-10-26 09:23 sudoers

Once i execute the command it again asks "[javauser] password for javauser:". But i already mentioned noPASSWD.

whoami returns alex and I am adding it as this in the sudoers file

# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
alex ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL


# Members of the admin group may gain root privileges
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo   ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Running keeps asking me for my password, any ideas?

Solution 1:

You need to do the following, on the terminal type sudo visudo and add a line like this at the end of the file specifying the commands you want to run without typing the sudo password (I suggest you use each command you want to use in the program and not just allow all programs to be executed by this)

<yourusername> ALL=NOPASSWD: <command1>, <command2>

Now you can run the specified commands without password as long as you type that command with sudo.

ie: lets say you want to run shutdown -r now without having to type sudo password every time and your username is 'joedoe'

1. type sudo visudo on a terminal

2. Add joedoe ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/shutdown -r now as a new line at the end of the file, use absolute paths to the program you are trying to use.

3. on your program you can then use sudo shutdown -r now without having to type the sudo password.

You can find the absolute path to a program by using which <program name> on a terminal.

Its a very dirty trick wish leaves your system open for other dangers but I am guessing you know what you are doing and want this.

Edit

You really need to make sure that the permitions you are setting are at the end of the file so that nothing is overwritten by the groups permissions.

Solution 2:

I was able to enable poweroff (normally a sudoer command) in an ssh prompt for non-sudoers, by, as a sudoer, adding the +s flag to the command executable. Like so:

sudo chmod a+s /usr/sbin/poweroff

After this, non-sudoers were be able to power off the system, over ssh, or even via a shell script running in their name.