Skip to main content
Solved

display log file in terminal window

M
Forum|alt.badge.img+4

Hey I want to achieve the following. If a certain local user logs in to open a terminal window and show the jamf.log file.

What I have done so far create a policy. with the trigger Login that executes a script that looks the following 

 

#!/bin/bash
# Check if the user is sadmin
if [ $(whoami) = "admin" ]; then
# Open a new Terminal window and run 'tail -f /var/log/jamf.log'
osascript -e 'tell app "Terminal" to do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"'
fi

 

the policy is executed when user "admin" logs in and gives no errors but there is no terminal window being opened and displays the jamf.log file

I dont know where the error is or why it won't work!? How can I achieve this?

Best answer by TrentO

One thing you have to remember when writing scripts for Jamf is that Jamf executes everything as root, not the currently logged in user. Because of this, your current script has two issues:

1) The check for the current user is going to always return root if run directly. Instead you can use this bash oneliner to get the currently logged on user.

CURRENT_USER=$(scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ {print$3}')

Then you can check if the user is the admin user as normal.

if [[ "$CURRENT_USER" = "admin" ]]; then ...do something here fi

2) Since the context for the script is root, when you attempt to open a UI element for the user, you will need to use sudo -u $CURRENT_USER to instead run your command to open then UI element in the user context. 

sudo -u "$CURRENT_USER" -- osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"'

All together this would be

#!/bin/bash CURRENT_USER=$(scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ {print$3}') if [[ "$CURRENT_USER" = "admin" ]]; then sudo -u "$CURRENT_USER" -- osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"' fi

 

View original
    Did this topic help you find an answer to your question?

    3 replies

    T
    Forum|alt.badge.img+9
    • TrentO
    • Contributor
    • 83 replies
    • Answer
    • March 23, 2023

    One thing you have to remember when writing scripts for Jamf is that Jamf executes everything as root, not the currently logged in user. Because of this, your current script has two issues:

    1) The check for the current user is going to always return root if run directly. Instead you can use this bash oneliner to get the currently logged on user.

    CURRENT_USER=$(scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ {print$3}')

    Then you can check if the user is the admin user as normal.

    if [[ "$CURRENT_USER" = "admin" ]]; then ...do something here fi

    2) Since the context for the script is root, when you attempt to open a UI element for the user, you will need to use sudo -u $CURRENT_USER to instead run your command to open then UI element in the user context. 

    sudo -u "$CURRENT_USER" -- osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"'

    All together this would be

    #!/bin/bash CURRENT_USER=$(scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ {print$3}') if [[ "$CURRENT_USER" = "admin" ]]; then sudo -u "$CURRENT_USER" -- osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"' fi

     

    M
    1 person likes this
    • M
      Maclife
    DBrowning
    Forum|alt.badge.img+24
    • DBrowning
    • Esteemed Contributor
    • 668 replies
    • March 23, 2023

    try using 

    osascript -e 'tell app "Terminal" to activate do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"'
    M
    Forum|alt.badge.img+4
    • Maclife
    • Author
    • Contributor
    • 24 replies
    • March 23, 2023
    TrentO wrote:

    One thing you have to remember when writing scripts for Jamf is that Jamf executes everything as root, not the currently logged in user. Because of this, your current script has two issues:

    1) The check for the current user is going to always return root if run directly. Instead you can use this bash oneliner to get the currently logged on user.

    CURRENT_USER=$(scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ {print$3}')

    Then you can check if the user is the admin user as normal.

    if [[ "$CURRENT_USER" = "admin" ]]; then ...do something here fi

    2) Since the context for the script is root, when you attempt to open a UI element for the user, you will need to use sudo -u $CURRENT_USER to instead run your command to open then UI element in the user context. 

    sudo -u "$CURRENT_USER" -- osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"'

    All together this would be

    #!/bin/bash CURRENT_USER=$(scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ {print$3}') if [[ "$CURRENT_USER" = "admin" ]]; then sudo -u "$CURRENT_USER" -- osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' -e 'tell application "Terminal" to do script "tail -f /var/log/jamf.log"' fi

     


    cool thanks let me try that.

    Reply


    Most helpful members this week

    Terms & ConditionsCookie settingsAccessibility statement

    Cookie policy

    We use cookies to enhance and personalize your experience. If you accept you agree to our full cookie policy. Learn more about our cookies.

     
    Cookie settings