":w :term ..." (WAS: "w !sudo ..." does not work)

[fishman]

when i use the follow in vim it works but neovim will never successfully accept the password:

:w !sudo tee % > /dev/null

[fmoralesc]

Can confirm.

[fwalch]

never successfully accept the password

Sometimes it works (for me), but I have experienced the same problem. I'm on 951d00a.

[nrhtr]

With a test.py like:

#!/usr/bin/env python
from getpass import getpass

pw = getpass("Enter password: ")
print("password is '%s'" % (pw,)

using :w !./test.py works as expected in vim but behaves strangely in nvim. The output is never displayed and when I strace'd the process while entering 'abcdefg' I noticed this:

[pid 24142] write(3, "Enter password: ", 16) = 16
[pid 24142] read(3, "a", 8192)          = 1
[pid 24125] read(0,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24142] read(3,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24125] <... read resumed> "b", 4094) = 1
[pid 24142] <... read resumed> "c", 8192) = 1
[pid 24125] read(0,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24142] read(3,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24125] <... read resumed> "d", 4094) = 1
[pid 24142] <... read resumed> "e", 8192) = 1
[pid 24125] read(0,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24142] read(3,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24125] <... read resumed> "f", 4094) = 1
[pid 24142] <... read resumed> "g", 8192) = 1
[pid 24125] read(0,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24142] read(3,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24125] <... read resumed> "\r", 4094) = 1
[pid 24142] <... read resumed> "\r", 8192) = 1
[pid 24125] read(0,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24142] read(3,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24125] <... read resumed> "\r", 4094) = 1
[pid 24142] <... read resumed> "\r", 8192) = 1
[pid 24125] read(0,  <unfinished ...>
[pid 24142] write(3, "\n", 1)           = 1
[pid 24142] write(1, "password is 'aceg'\n", 19) = 19
[pid 24142] +++ exited with 0 +++
<... read resumed> 0x12394c1, 4094)     = ? ERESTARTSYS (To be restarted if SA_RESTART is set)
--- SIGCHLD {si_signo=SIGCHLD, si_code=CLD_EXITED, si_pid=24142, si_uid=1000, si_status=0, si_utime=8, si_stime=3} ---

Is it that nvim and the subprocess are fighting over the input or something?

[tarruda]

FWIW I've began working on a fix for this and all other terminal-related issues

[fmoralesc]

This still seems to be an issue after #1820

[tarruda]

@fmoralesc I'm currently extending the job module to allow spawning tty programs. After that I will integrate nvim with libvterm which will be used for running shell commands(in other words, bang commands will be ran in terminal windows, which will fix this issue)

[fmoralesc]

@tarruda excellent!

[tarruda]

@pyrohh #2037 doesn't change the way shell commands are executed, it simply adds the "pty" option to job control. My next PR will take care of that though

[justinmk]

Changed the title to reflect what I propose is the solution to this issue: allow :w to send the buffer to any vim command (in particular, to :term). So this would work:

:w :term sudo tee % > /dev/null

There should be similar functionality for :r, that is, it should be able to get the output of any vim command without having to use :redir.

[ZyX-I]

I do not like the idea for special-casing :term command, it will raise questions about missing functionality. So you need to either

1. Use something like :w !-sudo tee % > /dev/null: in place of syntax which looks like if you allow any command use special syntax which allows one command exactly.
2. Actually allow any command. Specifically:
   • :w :{command} will do the following:
     1. setlocal bufhidden=hide, save previous bufhidden value.
     2. {command}.
     3. startinsert.
     4. “set paste” (actually: disable any possibility to quit insert mode, including using <Esc> and <C-\><C-n>, _not_ set paste).
     5. Feed the file contents. In place of steps 4. and 5. fed contents may simply be modified in the fashion that makes special characters be treated literally.
     6. “set nopaste”.
     7. setlocal bufhidden={previous value}. Condition: subjectable, something like “after buffer reappears in this window”. Presence of steps 1. and 7. is subjectable on their own.
   • :{range}w :{command} does basically the same thing, but only feeds a range.
   • :read :{command} will do
     1. Save cursor line number.
     2. set bufhidden=hide, save &bufhidden.
     3. {command}.
     4. Wait until someone tries to close the buffer. If {command} does not open a new buffer then next two steps are ignored.
     5. Save the entire buffer contents just before buffer was wiped out.
     6. After actually wiping the buffer paste saved lines after saved cursor line number. Wiping the buffer never closes the window, it just makes previous buffer (into which contents is :read) disappear.
     7. Restore &bufhidden.

Note: all these things may be done by the plugin with the clever use of *Cmd and some other autoevents.

Note 2: :r :{cmd} using :redir-like functionality is very different from :r :{cmd} reading from the terminal. :r :terminal will not do what you want if you use the same code used for :redir. Thus I was suggesting for :r :{cmd} to copy buffer contents and not to use something like :redir.

[justinmk]

2. Actually allow any command

That's what I am proposing.

[ZyX-I]

@justinmk But without the details it is hard to understand. You suggested :redir for :r (which will not work for :terminal) which clearly stated that you see :r being universal, but nothing for :w :{commmand}. And I do not think that my suggestion is trivial, special-casing :term is far easier.

[davidsteinberger]

@justinmk Is there any workaround to do a :w !sudo tee % > /dev/null in Neovim?

[ZyX-I]

@davidsteinberger You may be able to replace sudo with the equivalent command which uses the GUI: AFAIK depending on the system are available or can be installed kdesudo, gksudo (not sure, but gksu exists), also something from LXDE.

I have not actually checked whether this variant will work (whether they pass stdin to the launched application) though.

[justinmk]

Here's a (ugly) workaround:

:%y | term sudo nvim +'set paste' +'norm! gg"_dG' +startinsert %
<C-\><C-n>
P

[sfwn]

@pjg Now I have to open a new terminal tab and type cmd like $ sudo xxx and type my password to get sudo permission, then in nvim use :w !sudo tee % since it won't let you type password again.

[stevenocchipinti]

I've also got an ugly workaround:

" Temporary workaround for: https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/1716
if has("nvim")
  command! W w !sudo -n tee % > /dev/null || echo "Press <leader>w to authenticate and try again"
  map <leader>w :new<cr>:term sudo true<cr>
else
  command! W w !sudo tee % > /dev/null
end

Adding -n to sudo doesn't fix the problem, but it does prevent the terminal from being messed up when you press it.

[lambdalisue]

I made a plugin which solves this issue on neovim.

https://github.com/lambdalisue/suda.vim

In case if you guys are looking forward the solution 👍

[Earnestly]

Suddenly after updating (it was a lot of commits so I haven't yet tried to bisect it) I'm also experiencing this. sudo reports this error:

sudo: no tty present and no askpass program specified

[justinmk]

@Earnestly see #8389

[LunarLambda]

Sooo, I just ran into this too, what's the official status of this? A wontfix? Will be fixed but in a different way? Cuz I don't really wanna run all of neovim as root necessarily.

[KillTheMule]

Can't tell you about the status, but just for this particular usecase, sudoedit is made for this.

[justinmk]

@LunarLambda It is not wontfix, otherwise it would have been closed. However, I'm going to merge it with #1496 because both issues have the same root cause/solution.

Resolution/Summary

• For a workaround you could try this plugin.
• Potential solution in the shape of :write :term ... discussed.
• Merging this issue with :! (bang) and system() are not interactive #1496 because the solution to both is "rework :! to use :terminal internally"
  • See also FAQ

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Locked to keep the summary visible. You can always chat or open a new issue if you have new information/topics to discuss.