diff --git a/bin/ansible b/bin/ansible
index 978bddf33ce..cb853eaa504 100755
--- a/bin/ansible
+++ b/bin/ansible
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ class Cli(object):
             help='condense output')
         parser.add_option('-P', '--poll', default=C.DEFAULT_POLL_INTERVAL, type='int',
             dest='poll_interval', help='set the poll interval if using -B')
+        parser.add_option("-s", "--sudo", default=False, action="store_true",
+            dest='sudo', help="run operations with sudo (nopasswd)")
         parser.add_option('-t', '--tree', dest='tree', default=None,
             help='log output to this directory')
         parser.add_option('-T', '--timeout', default=C.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT, type='int',
@@ -107,7 +109,7 @@ class Cli(object):
             host_list=options.inventory, timeout=options.timeout, 
             remote_port=options.remote_port, forks=options.forks, 
             background=options.seconds, pattern=pattern, 
-            callbacks=self.callbacks, verbose=True,
+            callbacks=self.callbacks, sudo=options.sudo, verbose=True,
         )
         return (runner, runner.run())
 
diff --git a/bin/ansible-playbook b/bin/ansible-playbook
index 4c2afd736d2..cd276bff97f 100755
--- a/bin/ansible-playbook
+++ b/bin/ansible-playbook
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ def main(args):
         help="run playbook against these hosts regardless of inventory settings")
     parser.add_option('-p', '--port', default=C.DEFAULT_REMOTE_PORT, type='int',
         dest='remote_port', help='set the remote ssh port')
-
     parser.add_option('-T', '--timeout', default=C.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT, type='int',
         dest='timeout', help="set the SSH timeout in seconds")
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/connection.py b/lib/ansible/connection.py
index b83d84267a3..11838a18a7d 100755
--- a/lib/ansible/connection.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/connection.py
@@ -87,17 +87,19 @@ class ParamikoConnection(object):
             stdin, stdout, stderr = self.ssh.exec_command(cmd)
             return (stdin, stdout, stderr)
         else:
-            # this code is a work in progress, so it's disabled...
             self.ssh.close()
             ssh_sudo = self._get_conn()
             sudo_chan = ssh_sudo.invoke_shell()
             sudo_chan.send("sudo -s\n")
-            sudo_chan.recv(1024)
-            sudo_chan.send("echo && %s && echo\n" % cmd)
+            sudo_chan.send("echo 'START==>';%s;echo '<==STOP'\n" % cmd)
+            timeout = 60 # make configurable?
+            time.sleep(1)
             while not sudo_chan.recv_ready():
-                # TODO: timeout support
                 time.sleep(1)
-            out = sudo_chan.recv(1024)
+                timeout -= 1
+                if timeout < 0:
+                    return (None, json.dumps(dict(failed=True, msg="sudo timeout")), '')
+            out = sudo_chan.recv(2058)
             sudo_chan.close()
             self.ssh = self._get_conn()
             out = self._expect_like(out)
@@ -105,18 +107,9 @@ class ParamikoConnection(object):
 
     def _expect_like(self, msg):
         ''' hack to make invoke_shell more or less work for sudo usage '''
-        lines = msg.split("\n")
-        index = 0
-        for x in lines:
-            if x == '\r':
-                break
-            index += 1
-        index2 = index+1 
-        for x in lines[index:]:
-            if x == '\r':
-                break
-            index2 += 1
-        return "\n".join(lines[index+1:index2+1]).strip()
+        left = msg.rindex("START==>")
+        right = msg.rindex("<==STOP")
+        return msg[left+8:right].lstrip().rstrip()
 
     def put_file(self, in_path, out_path):
         ''' transfer a file from local to remote '''
diff --git a/library/service b/library/service
index f0e5da101b7..65a8e8c4c7a 100755
--- a/library/service
+++ b/library/service
@@ -79,9 +79,7 @@ elif state == "restarted":
 # run change commands if we need to
 
 def _run(cmd):
-    return subprocess.call(cmd, 
-        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-        stderr=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
+    return subprocess.call(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
 
 rc = 0
 if changed: