Okay, I realize this might not be possible ...
I have a device that runs linux, and it will likely not have a user interface that is visible. It will have a USB port that is open ... I want to be able to write java to allow the overall system to detect when a device is plugged into the USB port and then mount the device.
I know how to do this from a command line, but it requires "sudo" to fork a new process with elevated privilege to perform the task. I don't know how to write a java program that can get around (yes, I want to get around) the security protection of mount.
runtime.exec() doesn't really do what I am hoping to accomplish. Is this a "can't be done in Java" problem?
I'm hoping to do this without resorting to external executable code.
You can't get around the security protection of mount. The protection is not in mount. The protection is in the kernel.
If by chance you find a way and publish it, it will get removed.
If you have control of the OS you are running on, you can add the option user to the mountpoint in /etc/fstab. After doing so, "mount /path" and "umount /path" work from runtime.exec() without elevation. mount and umount are setuid-root to allow this to work.