[vim/vim] Run command with `:!sudo` fails on gvim after v8.2.2919 (#8951)

presuku

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Oct 3, 2021, 8:52:55 PM10/3/21

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Describe the bug

sudo command dose not display password prompt, so I can't input password to sudo command on gvim after v8.2.2919 ( 6a43b37 ).

To Reproduce

vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!sudo touch /tmp/foobar' -u NONE

Expected behavior
I can input password to sudo command.

Screenshots

vim 8.2.2918
vim 8.2.3469

Environment (please complete the following information):

Vim 8.2.3469 (8.2.2919 or later)
OS: Ubuntu 18.04
Terminal: GUI (gtk3)

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Dominique Pellé

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Oct 4, 2021, 2:46:44 AM10/4/21

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I cannot reproduce this bug despite using vim-8.2.2969 (gtk3) on xubuntu-18.04.6.
For me, vim asks for the sudo password without error.

presuku

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Oct 4, 2021, 7:42:41 AM10/4/21

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Oops, I forget information about shell, I use zsh.
Would you please try again using the following it ?

SHELL=zsh vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!sudo touch /tmp/foobar' -u NONE

And, I also couldn't reproduce this problem when I checked it on bash.
I think this issue is shell matter and original issue (#8314) is same (I also cannot reproduce #8314 on bash).
So, IMO v8.2.2919 should be revert.

Bram Moolenaar

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Oct 5, 2021, 10:01:34 AM10/5/21

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> Oops, I forget information about shell, I use zsh.
> Would you please try again using the following it ?
>
> ```

> SHELL=zsh vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!sudo touch /tmp/foobar' -u NONE
> ```

>
> And, I also couldn't reproduce this problem when I checked it on bash.
> I think this issue is shell matter and original issue (#8314) is same (I also cannot reproduce #8314 on bash).
> So, IMO v8.2.2919 should be revert.

That change was made to support zsh. So it looks like we can never get
it right. The problem reported by Felipe Contreras was:

When I launch a background process with gvim and shelltemp and zsh, the spawn process exits immediately and nothing happens:

```sh
SHELL=zsh vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!touch /tmp/foobar &'
```

This is a problem when trying to open a browser with `gx` and using `xdg-open` (when it uses `exo-open`), see issue #4738 for more context.

I have no idea what the proper solution is.

--
To be rich is not the end, but only a change of worries.

/// Bram Moolenaar -- ***@***.*** -- http://www.Moolenaar.net \\\
/// \\\
\\\ sponsor Vim, vote for features -- http://www.Vim.org/sponsor/ ///
\\\ help me help AIDS victims -- http://ICCF-Holland.org ///

presuku

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Oct 6, 2021, 11:21:23 AM10/6/21

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I got it that v8.2.2919 is result of long discussion at #4738 .

I have also investigated the behaviour of other shells (dash and tcsh), so I note the results of it.
I just look this results so I think behaviour of zsh is something wrong... and I don't know why bash is both ok.

SHELL=<shell> vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!touch /tmp/foobar &' -u NONE

shell vim v8.2.2918 vim v8.2.2919

zsh not create file create file

bash create file create file

dash create file create file

tcsh create file create file

shell	vim v8.2.2918	vim v8.2.2919
zsh	not create file	create file
bash	create file	create file
dash	create file	create file
tcsh	create file	create file

SHELL=<shell> vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!sudo touch /tmp/foobar' -u NONE

shell	vim v8.2.2918	vim v8.2.2919
zsh	can input password	can not input password
bash	can input password	can input password
dash	can input password	can not input password
tcsh	can input password	can not input password

anyway, I look for another solution (eg. install askpass or alias gvim="SHELL=bash gvim")
Thank you for reading my broken English.

Bram Moolenaar

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Oct 9, 2021, 9:29:22 AM10/9/21

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> I got it that v8.2.2919 is result of long discussion at #4738 .
>
> I have also investigated the behaviour of other shells (dash and tcsh), so I note the results of it.
> I just look this results so I think behaviour of zsh is something wrong... and I don't know why bash is both ok.
>

> * `SHELL=<shell> vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!touch /tmp/foobar &' -u NONE`

>
> |shell|vim v8.2.2918 |vim v8.2.2919|

> |-----|---------------|-------------|

> * `SHELL=<shell> vim -g -c 'set shelltemp' -c ':!sudo touch /tmp/foobar' -u NONE`

>
> |shell|vim v8.2.2918 |vim v8.2.2919 |

> |-----|------------------|----------------------|

Thanks for testing. However, using tcsh I can input a password.
I do see the problem with bash, which is more important, since it is
widely used. However, reverting the patch doesn't help.

Perhaps someone can look into why bash doesn't handle "!sudo cmd".

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125. You begin to wonder how often it REALLY is necessary to get up
and shower or bathe.

/// Bram Moolenaar -- ***@***.*** -- http://www.Moolenaar.net \\\
/// \\\
\\\ sponsor Vim, vote for features -- http://www.Vim.org/sponsor/ ///
\\\ help me help AIDS victims -- http://ICCF-Holland.org ///

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Christian Brabandt

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Oct 13, 2021, 5:39:07 AM10/13/21

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should be fixed by fff10d9

Christian Brabandt

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Oct 13, 2021, 5:39:44 AM10/13/21

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I leave this open, as there still seems to be an issue with zsh

presuku

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Oct 13, 2021, 7:08:09 AM10/13/21

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Thank you for accepting my suggestion.

Yee Cheng Chin

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Aug 5, 2022, 11:57:22 PM8/5/22

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I just noticed this change and late to the party. FWIW I am seeing that this does break the :! <cmd> & pattern in the latest MacVim, but it seems to work in gVim in Ubuntu that I tested on, so I think it depends on a variety of factor (probably partially since Vim has a hack of doing signal(SIGHUP, SIG_IGN); to try to support :!xterm &).

It does seem like by making a controlling terminal when you spawn the child process, you are essentially disallowing :! <cmd> & in Vim since when it detaches it will try to kill the processes. I think it's probably ok, if we just say "use :call system('<command> &') instead.

For entering passwords without a controlling terminal, MacVim just sets the SUDO_ASKPASS and SSH_ASKPASS environmental variables to the location of script that prompts for the password in a GUI. This allows sudo to retrieve the password from the external GUI app (since otherwise it needs a proper terminal to read it from). E.g. You can do apt install ssh-askpass in Ubuntu for a simple program to do that.