I have a script that is started by udev and so runs as root. What I want the script to do is to fork off another long-running process that is supposed to run as another user.

Here is what I do at the moment:

if(fork()) {
# do some stuff in the parent as root
}
else {  # child - run process as another user
exec "/usr/bin/sudo -u some_other_id $command_to_run"
}
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This works but in the process table I end up with 2 processes: One for the started command running as some_other_id and a root-process for the sudo.

My question is now how to avoid having the sudo-process staying around.

To rephrase: How do you fork off a long-runnning process under an other user-id while avoiding a root-owned sudo-process staying around as well.

Please note that I want the new process to appear in the process-table as beloning to the other user, so setting effective uid does not do the trick as the process would still appear as root in ps.

Many thanks!