su command not working within request script

From: Shekar (ctippur_at_msn.com)
Date: 03/16/05 

Date: 16 Mar 2005 11:39:34 -0800

All,

I have a request script which uses "su - user -c "pwd"" -OR- "su - user
-c "echo $SHELL"" to determine the users shell and home directory. We
had to do it this way because user maybe authenticated using
nis/ldap/or local passwd. During pkgadd, we see that it is prompting
for password. This is weird because when we run this command as root,
it should not ask for password. I am not sure what is happening.
Couple of interesting observations:
1. This seem to happen only on solaris 8 boxes which have been upgraded
to the latest patch level (117350-21).
2. Request script, when run individually, runs fine which leads us to
believe that pkg install is creating this problem.
I would like to know if I am thinking on right lines. I would also like
to know if there is an alternate method to determine user's shell by
root.

Thanks for your input in advance.

Shekar

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