ssh-agent/ssh-add question

mega · 01-25-2005, 05:42 AM

Hi,
I use slack for a long time and now I've installed 10.0 on my laptop and I can't figure out why my ssh-add doesn't prompt me when I start X.

I use a shell script to run X:

--- cut here ---
#!/bin/sh
SSH_AGENT=`which ssh-agent`
SSH_ADD=`which ssh-add`
X=`which startx`

exec $SSH_AGENT /bin/sh -c "$SSH_ADD <&-; $X"
--- cut here ---

I've tried to change the execution to "exec $SSH_AGENT /bin/sh -c "$SSH_ADD < /dev/null; $X" but still it doesn't show the GUI ssh-add prompt.

Anyone know what's the matter?

Thanks,
Cristina

DaHammer · 01-25-2005, 12:34 PM

Here's how I set it up using x11-ssh-askpass:

First download, unpack, compile and install x11-ssh-askpass:

Code:

wget h++p://www.jmknoble.net/software/x11-ssh-askpass/x11-ssh-askpass-1.2.4.1.tar.gz
tar zxvf x11-ssh-askpass-1.2.4.1.tar.gz
cd x11-ssh-askpass-1.2.4.1
./configure && xmkmf && make includes && make && make install && make install.man

Now we need edit /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc. Add this before where your desktop gets started at the bottom:

Code:

# Register the SSH keys with ssh-agent
ssh-add < /dev/null
# Start the window manager:
startkde

If you use Gnome instead of KDE, then it would be:

Code:

# Register the SSH keys with ssh-agent
ssh-add < /dev/null
# Start the window manager:
exec gnome-session

Now we need to set the SSH_ASKPASS environment variable and set an alias for startx on startup. There are a couple options here. If you want it to be system wide, ie everyone who uses the box gets prompted, then add the below code to /etc/profile. Otherwise if you're not going to setup keys for anyone else then you can just add it to your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc file. Here's the code to add:

Code:

# Start X as a under ssh-agent
alias startx="ssh-agent startx"
# Set the location of the x11-ssh-askpass binary
export SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/local/libexec/x11-ssh-askpass

That's it. Hope it helps.

mega · 01-26-2005, 03:09 AM

Thanks DaHammer.
I didn't know it was a different app.

Cristina