Running Unison as root on a remote system carries security risks, and it's generally not recommended. However, if you have a specific use case that requires it, you can use sudo and SSH to execute the Unison command with root privileges on the remote system.
Here's a step-by-step guide:
Set Up SSH Key Authentication:
Make sure you have SSH key authentication set up for your user on both the local and remote systems. This will allow you to connect without entering a password.
On your local machine:
ssh-keygen -t rsa
ssh-copy-id user@remote_server
Replace user with your username and remote_server with the IP address or hostname of the remote server
Configure sudo on the Remote System:
You can configure sudo to allow your user to execute specific commands as root without entering a password. Be cautious when doing this, as it poses security risks.
Edit the sudoers file using visudo:
sudo visudo
Add the following line at the end of the file (replace yourusername and /path/to/unison with your actual username and Unison path):
yourusername ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /path/to/unison
Save and exit the editor.
Run Unison Command:
ssh user@remote_server sudo /path/to/unison -batch -owner -group /path/on/local machine ssh://localhost:/path/on/remote/machine
Now, you can run Unison remotely using SSH and sudo, Again, keep in mind the security implications of running commands as root without a password. Ensure that your setup is secure and that you understand the risks involved. Always follow best practices for security when working with remote systems.