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authorColin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>2003-09-17 00:32:19 +0000
committerColin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>2003-09-17 00:32:19 +0000
commit22f9b945efa61bba12a4778b889df07cf851838a (patch)
tree77a3f749ea589c590db930cff12d804a4d7893b5 /ssh-agent.0
parent9d1471514608023cda6456f5a2e875cc5e4b9e77 (diff)
parent854156dd39acbde9b4a47ec0fc54a042ea7358e0 (diff)
Import OpenSSH 3.7p1.
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1SSH-AGENT(1) BSD General Commands Manual SSH-AGENT(1)
2
3NAME
4 ssh-agent - authentication agent
5
6SYNOPSIS
7 ssh-agent [-a bind_address] [-c | -s] [-t life] [-d] [command [args ...]]
8 ssh-agent [-c | -s] -k
9
10DESCRIPTION
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
22 default is /tmp/ssh-XXXXXXXX/agent.<ppid>.
23
24 -c Generate C-shell commands on stdout. This is the default if
25 SHELL looks like itM-bM-^@M-^Ys 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 itM-bM-^@M-^Ys 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
38 option 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 userM-bM-^@M-^Ys 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: Either the agent starts a
64 new subcommand into which some environment variables are exported, or the
65 agent prints the needed shell commands (either sh(1) or csh(1) syntax can
66 be generated) which can be evalled in the calling shell. Later ssh(1)
67 looks at these variables and uses them to establish a connection to the
68 agent.
69
70 The agent will never send a private key over its request channel.
71 Instead, operations that require a private key will be performed by the
72 agent, and the result will be returned to the requester. This way, pri-
73 vate keys are not exposed to clients using the agent.
74
75 A unix-domain socket is created and the name of this socket is stored in
76 the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable. The socket is made accessible
77 only to the current user. This method is easily abused by root or
78 another instance of the same user.
79
80 The SSH_AGENT_PID environment variable holds the agentM-bM-^@M-^Ys process ID.
81
82 The agent exits automatically when the command given on the command line
83 terminates.
84
85FILES
86 $HOME/.ssh/identity
87 Contains the protocol version 1 RSA authentication identity of
88 the user.
89
90 $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa
91 Contains the protocol version 2 DSA authentication identity of
92 the user.
93
94 $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa
95 Contains the protocol version 2 RSA authentication identity of
96 the user.
97
98 /tmp/ssh-XXXXXXXX/agent.<ppid>
99 Unix-domain sockets used to contain the connection to the authen-
100 tication agent. These sockets should only be readable by the
101 owner. The sockets should get automatically removed when the
102 agent exits.
103
104SEE ALSO
105 ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(8)
106
107AUTHORS
108 OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12 release by
109 Tatu Ylonen. Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos, Theo
110 de Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-added newer features and cre-
111 ated OpenSSH. Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH protocol
112 versions 1.5 and 2.0.
113
114BSD September 25, 1999 BSD