`socket.timeout: timed out` when running under sudo or otherwise as root?

[pmorch]

Is there any way I can use both wsl-sudo.pl and sudo at the same time without having to enter my linux password every time?

As I pointed out in #1, wsl-sudo works fine to edit e.g. the hosts file under WSL2, but I also need my script to have linux sudo priviledges.

If I run

wsl-sudo.py sudo ls -l

sudo asks for a password every time, presumably because wsl-sudo.py creates a new pty for each invocation.

But if I run this (where I preserve the PATH so it can find wsl-sudo.py and misc. windows binaries):

sudo env "PATH=$PATH" wsl-sudo.py ls

I'm presented with the UAC prompt but then get this, which I'd like to avoid:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/peter/bin/local/wsl-sudo/wsl-sudo.py", line 332, in <module>
    main()
  File "/home/peter/bin/local/wsl-sudo/wsl-sudo.py", line 328, in main
    UnprivilegedClient().main(**vars(args))
  File "/home/peter/bin/local/wsl-sudo/wsl-sudo.py", line 233, in main
    self.sock, acc = listen_socket.accept()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/socket.py", line 292, in accept
    fd, addr = self._accept()
socket.timeout: timed out

This occurs both if I run as above, if I run sudo -i to get an interactive shell, or run wsl -u root to start a brand new WSL session.

[Chronial]

I assume you applied #2 to get wsl-sudo working on wsl2? Then I would guess that your problem with sudo env "PATH=$PATH" wsl-sudo.py ls is that sudo removes the WSL_INTEROP variable, undoing the effect of #2. You could try sudo -E wsl-sudo.py ls instead. Which is probably what you want anyways.

You could also just permanently disable the password prompt for sudo: https://askubuntu.com/a/147265. I think that is in general a sensible thing to do on WSL. Then you can do wsl-sudo.py sudo ls -l.

[pmorch]

Thanks for replying.

I'm not sure I'm crazy about disabling sudo password prompting. But yes, that is a solution.

I don't understand the first part of your reply, though:

The socket.timeout: timed out occurs with or without #2 applied.

I would guess that your problem with sudo env "PATH=$PATH" wsl-sudo.py ls is that sudo removes the WSL_INTEROP variable

But:

1. sudo runs before wsl-sudo.py so how can it possibly remove the WSL_INTEROP that hasn't been set yet?
2. It also occurs with wsl.exe -u root starting directly as root - completely without sudo - as in:

WSL2@~» wsl.exe -u root
root@COMPANY-12D2Z0:/home/peter# /home/peter/bin/local/wsl-sudo/wsl-sudo.py ls
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/peter/bin/local/wsl-sudo/wsl-sudo.py", line 333, in <module>
    main()
  File "/home/peter/bin/local/wsl-sudo/wsl-sudo.py", line 329, in main    
    UnprivilegedClient().main(**vars(args))
  File "/home/peter/bin/local/wsl-sudo/wsl-sudo.py", line 234, in main
    self.sock, acc = listen_socket.accept()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/socket.py", line 292, in accept
    fd, addr = self._accept()
socket.timeout: timed out
root@COMPANY-12D2Z0:/home/peter# 

[Chronial]

#2 does not invent the WSL_INTEROP variable. The call graph of wsl-sudo is: linux wsl-sudo → windows powershell → windows wsl.exe → linux wsl-sudo (see readme). #2 forwards the WSL_INTEROP variable in the first call from linux to windows. Have a look at your wsl2 env: the WSL_INTEROP variable should already be set.

You can have a look at these issues to get more understanding of the situation: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4465 and https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/5065. It's possible that you are encountering the latter issue here, when you run wsl.exe from within a wsl prompt. I can't really help you there – these are all undocumented WSL2 internals.