Question

I have a simple shell script that tests whether a password is correct (or not) against an Apple Open Directory (LDAP) server.

What I’d like is simply to lose the gobblygook error message “Authentication for node /LDAPv3/1…” and instead insert my own language such as “password does not match”.

Here’s what happens now:

bash-3.2# test-password 

Enter username you'd like to test password for:
jdoe

Enter Password to test for jdoe
asdasdasd
Authentication for node /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 failed. (-14090, eDSAuthFailed)
<dscl_cmd> DS Error: -14090 (eDSAuthFailed)

What I’d prefer is:

bash-3.2# test-password 

Enter username you'd like to test password for:
jdoe

Enter Password to test for jdoe
asdasdasd
 Password matches!

So I just need to know a way so that the std out error message is muffled…

Here’s the script:

#!/bin/bash
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin export PATH
echo
echo Enter username you\'d like to test password for:
read USERNAME

echo
echo Enter Password to test for "$USERNAME"
read PASSWORD
/usr/bin/dscl /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 auth $USERNAME $PASSWORD

if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then
       echo "Password is correct"
       exit 0

fi

Answer 1

Just throw away standard output and error:

/usr/bin/dscl /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 auth $USERNAME $PASSWORD >/dev/null 2>&1

Unless the dscl program does something devious like open up your /dev/tty device for writing, that should take care of everything.