Schinckel.net

Since one of the security updates, Apple ‘fixed’ open so sudo open wouldn’t run the app as root, but I liked the ability to do this. Instead, one needs to actually run the application (located in ApplicationName.app/Contents/MacOS/ApplicationName) with a sudo. I often need to edit text files, and I use SubEthaEdit. So I put the following lines in my .profile:

function edit
{
    if test `echo $TERM_PROGRAM` == 'Apple_Terminal' ; then 
      open -a 'SubEthaEdit.app' "$*" &
    else
      pico "$*"
    fi
}

function sedit
{
    if test `echo $TERM_PROGRAM` == 'Apple_Terminal' ; then
      sudo ~/Applications/SubEthaEdit.app/¬
                  Contents/MacOS/SubEthaEdit "$*" &
    else
      sudo pico "$*"
    fi
}

If you don’t mind the prompt not returning until you finish, you can remove the & from the relevant lines. Why the pico lines? (And the test…) Because I sometimes ssh or telnet into my machine, and I like to be able to just type in (s)edit rather than have to remember another command. Other tips I use - change the background colour of SEE to blue for normal use, and another colour, like red/orange for sudo use. That way, you will know when you are editing a file as a superuser. You will need to sedit first to go through the ‘initial use agreement’. You could also use this trick with another editor…like pico…:-)