Running a bunch of commands in Terminal

Question

I run the following commands for logkext a lot in my terminal and would like a know a way to automate the whole process.

1. Open terminal
2. type "sudo logKextClient"
3. Type in administrator password
4. logKextClient has its own password which I need to type now
5. logKextClient is running now. prompt is logKextClient >
6. I have to type a command here. "open"
7. Then I need to close a window that opens. Window is titled out_logFile.txt. Usually it opens in TextEdit. I don't mind force quitting it. As a copy of the file is saved on the desktop.

I'd like to be able to double click something and execute the above list of commands/actions flawlessly.

Many thanks for your suggestions.

Answer 1

I went through the exact same process back when I was playing around with logKext. The unix command you may want to explore is /usr/bin/expect.

It can get complex quickly, but basically what it does is act as a mediator between you and the programs you're running so it can provide answers that you would normally have to type. As an example, I built this script so I could automate the process of printing the logKext output. You should recognize all of the commands you'd normally type to logkextClient yourself...

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
spawn logkextClient
expect "logKext Password:"
send "mylogkextpassword\r"
expect "logKextClient > "
send "print\r"
expect "logKextClient > "
send "quit\r"
close

Back in 10.5 and 10.6 this worked well for me for outputting the logKext print so I could pipe it into an email and send it. However, I was running this logged in as root to terminal, so it was simple.

Theoretically, if you weren't logged in as root, you could instead say

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
spawn sudo -k logkextClient
expect "Password:"
send “myrootpassword\r”
expect "logKext Password:"
send "mylogkextpassword\r"
expect "logKextClient > "
send "print\r"
expect "logKextClient > "
send "quit\r"
close

(note that I used sudo -k intentionally to be consistent and require a password every time)

So you could use your favorite command line editor to create this script, do a chmod +x to it and drag it to the dock for launching... Theoretically.

But I have been having problems in Mavericks getting /usr/bin/expect to behave properly with sudo, so this isn't working for me in other scripts like it should. And I don't have logKext installed at all anymore for testing anyway.

But I think this is the direction you may want to head.

Good luck!

Answer 2

You can use Automator to do this. The instructions are for Mavericks, but the main part is the same in all OSs.

1. Open Automator
2. Click "New Document"
3. Select "Workflow"
4. Click "Record" (it may ask you to grant permission, click "Open System Preferences")
5. Perform all of the actions you want it to do
6. Click the stop button
7. Save the workflow

Now, when you want it to perform those actions, simply open the workflow.

Answer 3

I suggests using AppleScript. I am not able to provide the actual code, only some idea.

a) Launch Terminal: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/use-applescript-launch-programs-48829.html

b) Telling Terminal to execute command: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1870270/sending-commands-and-strings-to-terminal-app-with-applescript

c) Giving Terminal super user privilege: https://discussions.apple.com/message/23354237#23354237

I'm not sure if (b) and (c) can blend perfectly.

d) Close Text Edit window/document: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10933711/how-to-open-close-and-close-the-dialogs-of-another-application-using-cocoa-or-a