Sudo directive in /etc/sudoers.d doesn't work (but it's fine if it's in /etc/sudoers)

I wish to add a file to the /etc/sudoers.d folder that includes a directive to allow www-data to run one specific script with no root password.

The directive is

www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /path/to/script.sh

If I visudo and add it to /etc/sudoers, there is no problem.

If I put that line in a file and copy it to /etc/sudoers.d, then visudo, it tells me that the file has a 'syntax error near line 1'.

Is there something else I need to put in the file, or something else I need to do to make it work?

I am running Ubuntu 18.

Thanks!

Solution 1:

I found out the problem - for files in /etc/sudoers.d, the file must not end at the directive, but on a new line. This is most easily shown with cat -A.

Invalid file:

root@server:/etc/sudoers.d# cat -A /etc/sudoers.d/testfile
www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /path/to/script.shroot@server:/etc/sudoers.d#

Valid file:

root@server:/etc/sudoers.d# cat -A /etc/sudoers.d/testfile
www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /path/to/script.sh$
root@server:/etc/sudoers.d#