[ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Nayuta Taga]

I'd like to package and maintain win-ssh-agent for Cygwin.
With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe
cygwin openssh) in the more smart way.
Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to
use the ssh, as child processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you
eval'ed the ssh-agent.  Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent.
The win-ssh-agent enables all programs to refer to theenvironment
variables of the ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK.  Now, we no longer
need to start programs aschild processes of the shell.
win-ssh-agent been written only for Cygwin, so it's not available in
any Linux distros and needs to be voted on.
License:    BSDHome page:
https://github.com/ganaware/win-ssh-agentAuthor:     Nayuta Taga
<ganaware@gmail.com>
<setup.hint> category: Utilsrequires: openssh cygwinsdesc: "A
ssh-agent wrapper with simple GUI"ldesc: "With the win-ssh-agent, we
can use the ssh-agent (available inthe cygwin openssh) in the more
smart way.
Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to
use the ssh, as child processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you
eval'ed the ssh-agent.  Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent.
The win-ssh-agent enables all programs to refer to theenvironment
variables of the ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK.  Now, we no longer
need to start programs aschild processes of the shell."</setup.hint>
wget \  https://github.com/downloads/ganaware/win-ssh-agent-cygport/setup.hint
\  https://github.com/downloads/ganaware/win-ssh-agent-cygport/win-ssh-agent-1.07-1-src.tar.bz2
\  https://github.com/downloads/ganaware/win-ssh-agent-cygport/win-ssh-agent-1.07-1.tar.bz2

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Andrew Schulman]

> I'd like to package and maintain win-ssh-agent for Cygwin.
> With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe
> cygwin openssh) in the more smart way.
> Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to
> use the ssh, as child processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you
> eval'ed the ssh-agent.  Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
> environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent.
> The win-ssh-agent enables all programs to refer to theenvironment
> variables of the ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK.  Now, we no longer
> need to start programs aschild processes of the shell.

+1 Sounds useful.

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Christopher Faylor]

On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 09:52:20AM -0400, Andrew Schulman wrote:
>> I'd like to package and maintain win-ssh-agent for Cygwin.
>> With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe
>> cygwin openssh) in the more smart way.
>> Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to
>> use the ssh, as child processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you
>> eval'ed the ssh-agent. ?Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
>> environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent.
>> The win-ssh-agent enables all programs to refer to theenvironment
>> variables of the ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK. ?Now, we no longer
>> need to start programs aschild processes of the shell.
>
>+1 Sounds useful.

I don't agree.  I don't see why this couldn't be accomplished using
standard UNIX tools and it seems like it might even be a potential
security hole.  I don't see the need to have this package in the
distribution.

cgf

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Nayuta Taga]

2011/11/4 Christopher Faylor
> On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 09:52:20AM -0400, Andrew Schulman wrote:
>>> I'd like to package and maintain win-ssh-agent for Cygwin.
>>> With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe
>>> cygwin openssh) in the more smart way.
>>> Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to
>>> use the ssh, as child processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you
>>> eval'ed the ssh-agent. ?Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
>>> environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent.
>>> The win-ssh-agent enables all programs to refer to theenvironment
>>> variables of the ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK. ?Now, we no longer
>>> need to start programs aschild processes of the shell.
>>
>>+1 Sounds useful.
>
> I don't agree. ?I don't see why this couldn't be accomplished using
> standard UNIX tools

The win-ssh-agent is for applications that uses the cygwin openssh
internally and are executed from the Explorer (i.e. via the
ShellExecute() API).

The keychain in the distribution cannot propagate SSH_AUTH_SOCK to
them.

Example:

Consider the ntemacs ( http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/windows/ ) .

(1) I want to use it because the cygwin emacs does not have its own
    windows.  The cygwin emacs works only in the terminal.

(2) I want to run it from the start menu or the Windows 7's task bar
    (not from the cygwin bash shell).  It is the window's style to run
    applications.

(3) I want to use the tramp ( http://www.gnu.org/s/tramp/ ) in the
    ntemacs.  With it, I can treat documents on the remote machine
    as if they are on the local machine by:
           C-x C-f /sshx:username<at>hostname:~/remote-file

    But with the keychain, the ntemacs becomes silent because the ssh
    (executed by the tramp) cannot know the SSH_AUTH_SOCK and it asks
    me about the passphrase in the hidden console.

    With the win-ssh-agent, the ntemacs knows the SSH_AUTH_SOCK, so
    the tramp works as expected.

> and it seems like it might even be a potential
> security hole. ?I don't see the need to have this package in the
> distribution.
>
> cgf

The win-ssh-agent set the SSH_AUTH_SOCK and some enviroments to the
user's registory (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment\*), not to the system
registory.

-- 
Nayuta Taga

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Corinna Vinschen]

On Nov  4 15:37, Nayuta Taga wrote:
> 2011/11/4 Christopher Faylor
> > On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 09:52:20AM -0400, Andrew Schulman wrote:
> >>> I'd like to package and maintain win-ssh-agent for Cygwin.
> >>> With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe
> >>> cygwin openssh) in the more smart way.
> >>> Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to
> >>> use the ssh, as child processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you
> >>> eval'ed the ssh-agent. ?Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
> >>> environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent.
> >>> The win-ssh-agent enables all programs to refer to theenvironment
> >>> variables of the ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK. ?Now, we no longer
> >>> need to start programs aschild processes of the shell.
> >>
> >>+1 Sounds useful.
> >
> > I don't agree. ?I don't see why this couldn't be accomplished using
> > standard UNIX tools
> 
> The win-ssh-agent is for applications that uses the cygwin openssh
> internally and are executed from the Explorer (i.e. via the
> ShellExecute() API).
> 
> The keychain in the distribution cannot propagate SSH_AUTH_SOCK to
> them.

You can eaily propagate the SSH_* environment variables to other
sessions via scripting, if you store the variables in a known path.
You don't have to change the registry for that to work.

> Example:
> 
> Consider the ntemacs ( http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/windows/ ) .
> 
> (1) I want to use it because the cygwin emacs does not have its own
>     windows.  The cygwin emacs works only in the terminal.

Try xemacs.  It has a Windows GUI fallback mode if there's no X display.

> (2) I want to run it from the start menu or the Windows 7's task bar
>     (not from the cygwin bash shell).  It is the window's style to run
>     applications.

You can start it from the start menu via a bash script which pulls in
the SSH_* environment before starting emacs.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to include win-ssh-agent into the
distro if it gets enough votes, but there are simple ways to solve this
problem without a Windows GUI application.


Corinna

-- 
Corinna Vinschen                  Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to
Cygwin Project Co-Leader          cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Red Hat

RE: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Thrall, Bryan]

Corinna Vinschen wrote on 2011-11-04: 
> On Nov  4 15:37, Nayuta Taga wrote:
>> 2011/11/4 Christopher Faylor
>>> On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 09:52:20AM -0400, Andrew Schulman wrote:
>>>>> I'd like to package and maintain win-ssh-agent for Cygwin. With the
>>>>> win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe cygwin
>>>>> openssh) in the more smart way. Normally, we need to start all
>>>>> relevant programs, which mightneed to use the ssh, as child
>>>>> processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you eval'ed the
>>>>> ssh-agent. ?Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
>>>>> environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent. The win-ssh-agent
>>>>> enables all programs to refer to theenvironment variables of the
>>>>> ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK. ?Now, we no longer need to start
>>>>> programs aschild processes of the shell.
>>>> 
>>>> +1 Sounds useful.
>>> 
>>> I don't agree. ?I don't see why this couldn't be accomplished using
>>> standard UNIX tools
>> 
>> The win-ssh-agent is for applications that uses the cygwin openssh
>> internally and are executed from the Explorer (i.e. via the
>> ShellExecute() API).
>> 
>> The keychain in the distribution cannot propagate SSH_AUTH_SOCK to
>> them.
> 
> You can eaily propagate the SSH_* environment variables to other
> sessions via scripting, if you store the variables in a known path.
> You don't have to change the registry for that to work.

keychain stores the ssh-agent environment variables in $HOME/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh by default. I start keychain from my .bash_profile and then source $HOME/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh in my .bashrc so all my shells get the right values even if they aren't spawned from the shell that started keychain.

Hope this helps.
--
Bryan Thrall
Principal Software Engineer
FlightSafety International
bryan.thrall@flightsafety.com
  

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Eric Blake]

On 11/04/2011 12:37 AM, Nayuta Taga wrote:
> 2011/11/4 Christopher Faylor
>> On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 09:52:20AM -0400, Andrew Schulman wrote:
>>>> I'd like to package and maintain win-ssh-agent for Cygwin.

-1, for reasons below...

>>>> With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe
>>>> cygwin openssh) in the more smart way.
>>>> Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to

I'm not sure why your mail came through so garbled, but the large number 
of missing spaces in your message distracts from your attempt to appear 
professional in offering a package.

>>>> use the ssh, as child processes of the shell(e.g. bash) in which you
>>>> eval'ed the ssh-agent. ?Because, theprograms must be able to refer to
>>>> environment variables thatset by the ssh-agent.
>>>> The win-ssh-agent enables all programs to refer to theenvironment
>>>> variables of the ssh-agent, i.e. theSSH_AUTH_SOCK. ?Now, we no longer
>>>> need to start programs aschild processes of the shell.

> Example:
>
> Consider the ntemacs ( http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/windows/ ) .

Non-cygwin program.  If someone is willing to download a non-cygwin 
ntemacs, then they can also download a non-cygwin win-ssh-agent.

> (3) I want to use the tramp ( http://www.gnu.org/s/tramp/ ) in the
>      ntemacs.  With it, I can treat documents on the remote machine
>      as if they are on the local machine by:
>             C-x C-f /sshx:username<at>hostname:~/remote-file

Have you tried using the emacs that ships with cygwin?  It includes 
tramp.elc already built in, without needing a separate download.  But if 
you are using the distro emacs, it seems like you are already okay using 
the distro for firing up that emacs instance, at which point I don't see 
a need for a gui frontend.

Unless you can give an example where an app in the cygwin distro would 
be benefitted by adding a gui front-end to setting up the ssh-agent, and 
why existing mechanisms of starting any cygwin app via a simple shell 
script wrapper that attaches to $HOME/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh if 
already present, then I don't see why the cygwin distro needs 
win-ssh-agent.  I'm not saying that win-ssh-agent is bad (on the 
contrary, it does seem to help your use case of ntemacs), just that 
since your primary use case demonstration was as a stand-alone app for 
helping other non-cygwin apps, and not something that fills a void for 
interaction with existing cygwin apps.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake@redhat.com    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Nayuta Taga]

2011/11/4 Corinna Vinschen:> On Nov  4 15:37, Nayuta Taga wrote:>> (1)
I want to use it because the cygwin emacs does not have its own>>
windows.  The cygwin emacs works only in the terminal.> Try xemacs.
It has a Windows GUI fallback mode if there's no X display.
It's nice! I'll try it.
>> (2) I want to run it from the start menu or the Windows 7's task bar>>     (not from the cygwin bash shell).  It is the window's style to run>>     applications.>> You can start it from the start menu via a bash script which pulls in> the SSH_* environment before starting emacs.
Yes, I can.
2011/11/4 Eric Blake:>>>>> With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the
ssh-agent (available inthe>>>>> cygwin openssh) in the more smart
way.>>>>> Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which
mightneed to>> I'm not sure why your mail came through so garbled, but
the large number of> missing spaces in your message distracts from
your attempt to appear> professional in offering a package.
I'm sorry for missing spaces.  I don't know why this happened ...
>> (3) I want to use the tramp ( http://www.gnu.org/s/tramp/ ) in the>>     ntemacs.  With it, I can treat documents on the remote machine>>     as if they are on the local machine by:>>            C-x C-f /sshx:username<at>hostname:~/remote-file>> Have you tried using the emacs that ships with cygwin?  It includes> tramp.elc already built in, without needing a separate download.
The URL is just a information for someone who are not familiar withthe
tramp.  I didn't download it from there.
> Unless you can give an example where an app in the cygwin distro would be> benefitted by adding a gui front-end to setting up the ssh-agent, and why> existing mechanisms of starting any cygwin app via a simple shell script> wrapper that attaches to $HOME/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh if already present,> then I don't see why the cygwin distro needs win-ssh-agent.  I'm not saying> that win-ssh-agent is bad (on the contrary, it does seem to help your use> case of ntemacs), just that since your primary use case demonstration was as> a stand-alone app for helping other non-cygwin apps, and not something that> fills a void for interaction with existing cygwin apps.
Ok.  I understand why win-ssh-agent should be distributed
separatelyfrom the cygwin's distro.
Thanks for your valuable feedback.  I withdraw this ITP.--
Nayuta Taga

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[多賀奈由太]

Sorry for my broken mail.  I send it again by other mailer.

2011/11/4 Corinna Vinschen:
 > On Nov  4 15:37, Nayuta Taga wrote:
 >> (1) I want to use it because the cygwin emacs does not have its own
 >>     windows.  The cygwin emacs works only in the terminal.
 > Try xemacs.  It has a Windows GUI fallback mode if there's no X display.

It's nice! I'll try it.

 >> (2) I want to run it from the start menu or the Windows 7's task bar
 >>     (not from the cygwin bash shell).  It is the window's style to run
 >>     applications.
 >
 > You can start it from the start menu via a bash script which pulls in
 > the SSH_* environment before starting emacs.

Yes, I can.

2011/11/4 Eric Blake:
 >>>>> With the win-ssh-agent, we can use the ssh-agent (available inthe
 >>>>> cygwin openssh) in the more smart way.
 >>>>> Normally, we need to start all relevant programs, which mightneed to
 >
 > I'm not sure why your mail came through so garbled, but the large 
number of
 > missing spaces in your message distracts from your attempt to appear
 > professional in offering a package.

I'm sorry for missing spaces.  I don't know why this happened ...

 >> (3) I want to use the tramp ( http://www.gnu.org/s/tramp/ ) in the
 >>     ntemacs.  With it, I can treat documents on the remote machine
 >>     as if they are on the local machine by:
 >>            C-x C-f /sshx:username<at>hostname:~/remote-file
 >
 > Have you tried using the emacs that ships with cygwin?  It includes
 > tramp.elc already built in, without needing a separate download.

The URL is just a information for someone who are not familiar with
the tramp.  I didn't download it from there.

 > Unless you can give an example where an app in the cygwin distro would be
 > benefitted by adding a gui front-end to setting up the ssh-agent, and why
 > existing mechanisms of starting any cygwin app via a simple shell script
 > wrapper that attaches to $HOME/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh if already 
present,
 > then I don't see why the cygwin distro needs win-ssh-agent.  I'm not 
saying
 > that win-ssh-agent is bad (on the contrary, it does seem to help your use
 > case of ntemacs), just that since your primary use case demonstration 
was as
 > a stand-alone app for helping other non-cygwin apps, and not 
something that
 > fills a void for interaction with existing cygwin apps.

Ok.  I understand why win-ssh-agent should be distributed separately
from the cygwin's distro.

Thanks for your valuable feedback.  I withdraw this ITP.
-- 
Nayuta Taga

RE: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Karl M]

> Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 23:03:39 -0400
> From: cgf
> To: cygwin-apps
> Subject: Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07
> 
> I don't agree. I don't see why this couldn't be accomplished using
> standard UNIX tools and it seems like it might even be a potential
> security hole. I don't see the need to have this package in the
> distribution.
> 
I have been using ssh-agent with the -a option to explicitly specify the
socket instead of the randomly chosen socket name. This avoids the
slow execution of keychain and simplifys the location of the socket.
 
The below is from my .bash_profile to launch the agent as needed.
The initial test of SSH_AUTH_SOCK is to support a forwarded agent.
 
if [ -z "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK" ]; then
 export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$HOME/.ssh/ssh-auth-sock"
fi
ssh-add -l &>/dev/null
ec=$?
if [ $ec -eq 2 ]; then
 rm $SSH_AUTH_SOCK &>/dev/null
 ssh-agent -a $SSH_AUTH_SOCK &>/dev/null
 ssh-add
elif [ $ec -eq 1 ]; then
 ssh-add
fi
 
You can also define SSH_AUTH_SOCK in the registry if you wish for non-Cygwin uses.
 
So I don't see a need for win-ssh-agent, unless the OP can identify any use cases not
satisfied by existing options?
 
Thanks,
 
...Karl 		 	   		  

Re: [ITP] win-ssh-agent 1.07

[Christopher Faylor]

On Sat, Nov 05, 2011 at 10:21:28PM -0800, Karl M wrote:
>So I don't see a need for win-ssh-agent, unless the OP can identify any use cases not
>satisfied by existing options?

This is a dead subject.  The OP has withdrawn the package.