If you're looking for a more lightweight solution, I wrote this generic implementation which should achieve what you want:
- (BOOL) runProcessAsAdministrator:(NSString*)scriptPath
withArguments:(NSArray *)arguments
output:(NSString **)output
errorDescription:(NSString **)errorDescription {
NSString * allArgs = [arguments componentsJoinedByString:@" "];
NSString * fullScript = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"'%@' %@", scriptPath, allArgs];
NSDictionary *errorInfo = [NSDictionary new];
NSString *script = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"do shell script \"%@\" with administrator privileges", fullScript];
NSAppleScript *appleScript = [[NSAppleScript new] initWithSource:script];
NSAppleEventDescriptor * eventResult = [appleScript executeAndReturnError:&errorInfo];
// Check errorInfo
if (! eventResult)
{
// Describe common errors
*errorDescription = nil;
if ([errorInfo valueForKey:NSAppleScriptErrorNumber])
{
NSNumber * errorNumber = (NSNumber *)[errorInfo valueForKey:NSAppleScriptErrorNumber];
if ([errorNumber intValue] == -128)
*errorDescription = @"The administrator password is required to do this.";
}
// Set error message from provided message
if (*errorDescription == nil)
{
if ([errorInfo valueForKey:NSAppleScriptErrorMessage])
*errorDescription = (NSString *)[errorInfo valueForKey:NSAppleScriptErrorMessage];
}
return NO;
}
else
{
// Set output to the AppleScript's output
*output = [eventResult stringValue];
return YES;
}
}
Usage example:
NSString * output = nil;
NSString * processErrorDescription = nil;
BOOL success = [self runProcessAsAdministrator:@"/usr/bin/id"
withArguments:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"-un", nil]
output:&output
errorDescription:&processErrorDescription];
if (!success) // Process failed to run
{
// ...look at errorDescription
}
else
{
// ...process output
}
It's very slightly hacky, but IMHO is a satisfactory solution. Credit for discovery to this SO question.
