diff options
author | Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org> | 2005-03-10 00:24:57 +0000 |
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committer | Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org> | 2005-03-10 00:24:57 +0000 |
commit | 5d05471f6657646d1d6500c7c43134462c407ee6 (patch) | |
tree | c142ff8a5b1fcb1c671ba8c6f023746191124d39 /ssh-agent.0 | |
parent | 485bab886137bbf8b7ec8df82bd66dc6e5654371 (diff) | |
parent | ebd2ce335af5861020c79fddb1ae35c03bf036cf (diff) |
Import OpenSSH 4.0p1.
Diffstat (limited to 'ssh-agent.0')
-rw-r--r-- | ssh-agent.0 | 118 |
1 files changed, 118 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/ssh-agent.0 b/ssh-agent.0 new file mode 100644 index 000000000..c2d7efa57 --- /dev/null +++ b/ssh-agent.0 | |||
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@ | |||
1 | SSH-AGENT(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual SSH-AGENT(1) | ||
2 | |||
3 | NAME | ||
4 | ssh-agent - authentication agent | ||
5 | |||
6 | SYNOPSIS | ||
7 | ssh-agent [-a bind_address] [-c | -s] [-t life] [-d] [command [args ...]] | ||
8 | ssh-agent [-c | -s] -k | ||
9 | |||
10 | DESCRIPTION | ||
11 | ssh-agent is a program to hold private keys used for public key authenti- | ||
12 | cation (RSA, DSA). The idea is that ssh-agent is started in the begin- | ||
13 | ning of an X-session or a login session, and all other windows or pro- | ||
14 | grams are started as clients to the ssh-agent program. Through use of | ||
15 | environment variables the agent can be located and automatically used for | ||
16 | authentication when logging in to other machines using ssh(1). | ||
17 | |||
18 | The options are as follows: | ||
19 | |||
20 | -a bind_address | ||
21 | Bind the agent to the unix-domain socket bind_address. The de- | ||
22 | fault is /tmp/ssh-XXXXXXXX/agent.<ppid>. | ||
23 | |||
24 | -c Generate C-shell commands on stdout. This is the default if | ||
25 | SHELL looks like it's a csh style of shell. | ||
26 | |||
27 | -s Generate Bourne shell commands on stdout. This is the default if | ||
28 | SHELL does not look like it's a csh style of shell. | ||
29 | |||
30 | -k Kill the current agent (given by the SSH_AGENT_PID environment | ||
31 | variable). | ||
32 | |||
33 | -t life | ||
34 | Set a default value for the maximum lifetime of identities added | ||
35 | to the agent. The lifetime may be specified in seconds or in a | ||
36 | time format specified in sshd(8). A lifetime specified for an | ||
37 | identity with ssh-add(1) overrides this value. Without this op- | ||
38 | tion the default maximum lifetime is forever. | ||
39 | |||
40 | -d Debug mode. When this option is specified ssh-agent will not | ||
41 | fork. | ||
42 | |||
43 | If a commandline is given, this is executed as a subprocess of the agent. | ||
44 | When the command dies, so does the agent. | ||
45 | |||
46 | The agent initially does not have any private keys. Keys are added using | ||
47 | ssh-add(1). When executed without arguments, ssh-add(1) adds the files | ||
48 | $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa, $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa and $HOME/.ssh/identity. If the | ||
49 | identity has a passphrase, ssh-add(1) asks for the passphrase (using a | ||
50 | small X11 application if running under X11, or from the terminal if run- | ||
51 | ning without X). It then sends the identity to the agent. Several iden- | ||
52 | tities can be stored in the agent; the agent can automatically use any of | ||
53 | these identities. ssh-add -l displays the identities currently held by | ||
54 | the agent. | ||
55 | |||
56 | The idea is that the agent is run in the user's local PC, laptop, or ter- | ||
57 | minal. Authentication data need not be stored on any other machine, and | ||
58 | authentication passphrases never go over the network. However, the con- | ||
59 | nection to the agent is forwarded over SSH remote logins, and the user | ||
60 | can thus use the privileges given by the identities anywhere in the net- | ||
61 | work in a secure way. | ||
62 | |||
63 | There are two main ways to get an agent set up: The first is that the | ||
64 | agent starts a new subcommand into which some environment variables are | ||
65 | exported, eg ssh-agent xterm &. The second is that the agent prints the | ||
66 | needed shell commands (either sh(1) or csh(1) syntax can be generated) | ||
67 | which can be evalled in the calling shell, eg eval `ssh-agent -s` for | ||
68 | Bourne-type shells such as sh(1) or ksh(1) and eval `ssh-agent -c` for | ||
69 | csh(1) and derivatives. | ||
70 | |||
71 | Later ssh(1) looks at these variables and uses them to establish a con- | ||
72 | nection to the agent. | ||
73 | |||
74 | The agent will never send a private key over its request channel. In- | ||
75 | stead, operations that require a private key will be performed by the | ||
76 | agent, and the result will be returned to the requester. This way, pri- | ||
77 | vate keys are not exposed to clients using the agent. | ||
78 | |||
79 | A unix-domain socket is created and the name of this socket is stored in | ||
80 | the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable. The socket is made accessible | ||
81 | only to the current user. This method is easily abused by root or anoth- | ||
82 | er instance of the same user. | ||
83 | |||
84 | The SSH_AGENT_PID environment variable holds the agent's process ID. | ||
85 | |||
86 | The agent exits automatically when the command given on the command line | ||
87 | terminates. | ||
88 | |||
89 | FILES | ||
90 | $HOME/.ssh/identity | ||
91 | Contains the protocol version 1 RSA authentication identity of | ||
92 | the user. | ||
93 | |||
94 | $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa | ||
95 | Contains the protocol version 2 DSA authentication identity of | ||
96 | the user. | ||
97 | |||
98 | $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa | ||
99 | Contains the protocol version 2 RSA authentication identity of | ||
100 | the user. | ||
101 | |||
102 | /tmp/ssh-XXXXXXXX/agent.<ppid> | ||
103 | Unix-domain sockets used to contain the connection to the authen- | ||
104 | tication agent. These sockets should only be readable by the | ||
105 | owner. The sockets should get automatically removed when the | ||
106 | agent exits. | ||
107 | |||
108 | SEE ALSO | ||
109 | ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(8) | ||
110 | |||
111 | AUTHORS | ||
112 | OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12 release by | ||
113 | Tatu Ylonen. Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos, Theo | ||
114 | de Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-added newer features and cre- | ||
115 | ated OpenSSH. Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH protocol | ||
116 | versions 1.5 and 2.0. | ||
117 | |||
118 | OpenBSD 3.6 September 25, 1999 2 | ||