sudo-prompt/README.md

# sudo-prompt

Run a command using sudo, prompting the user with an OS dialog if necessary. Useful for background applications or native Electron apps that need sudo.

![Sudo on Mac OS X for an app called "Ronomon"](./osx.png)

Currently supports native OS dialog prompt on Mac OS X (patches welcome for Linux) and uses process.title as the name of the app requesting permission.

sudo-prompt has no external dependencies and does not require any native bindings.

## Installation
```
npm install sudo-prompt
```

## Usage
Note: Your command should not start with the "sudo" prefix.
```
// To run a command using sudo-prompt:
var sudo = require('sudo-prompt');
sudo.exec('echo hello', function(error) {});

// To update the sudo timestamp for the current user:
// This will extend any existing sudo session for a few more minutes.
// It will prompt to create a new session if there is no existing sudo session.
sudo.touch(function(error) {});

// To use something other than process.title as the app name:
// Must be alphanumeric (may contain spaces).
sudo.setName('Your app name')
```

## Behavior
sudo-prompt should behave just like the `sudo` command in the shell. If your command does not work with the `sudo` command in the shell (perhaps because it uses `>` redirection to a restricted file), then it will not work with sudo-prompt. However, it is still possible to use sudo-prompt to get a privileged shell, [see this issue for more information](https://github.com/jorangreef/sudo/issues/1).

## Concurrency
You can call `sudo.exec` and `sudo.touch` concurrently, and sudo-prompt will batch up permission requests into a single password prompt.