ssh-agent man page on QNX

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SSH-AGENT(1)							  SSH-AGENT(1)

NAME
       ssh-agent - authentication agent

SYNOPSIS
       ssh-agent [-c | -s] [-d] [-a bind_address] [-t life] [command [arg...]
       ssh-agent [-c | -s] -k

DESCRIPTION
       ssh-agent is a program to hold private keys used for public key authen‐
       tication (RSA, DSA).  The idea is that  ssh-agent  is  started  in  the
       beginning  of an X-session or a login session, and all other windows or
       programs are started as clients to the ssh-agent program.  Through  use
       of  environment	variables  the	agent can be located and automatically
       used for authentication when logging in to other machines using ssh(1).

       The options are as follows:

       -a bind_address
	      Bind the agent to	 the  UNIX-domain  socket  bind_address.   The
	      default is /tmp/ssh-XXXXXXXXXX/agent.ppid.

       -c     Generate	C-shell	 commands  on  stdout.	This is the default if
	      SHELL looks like it's a csh style of shell.

       -d     Debug mode.  When this option is specified  ssh-agent  will  not
	      fork.

       -k     Kill  the	 current agent (given by the SSH_AGENT_PID environment
	      variable).

       -s     Generate Bourne shell commands on stdout.	 This is  the  default
	      if SHELL does not look like it's a csh style of shell.

       -t life
	      Set a default value for the maximum lifetime of identities added
	      to the agent.  The lifetime may be specified in seconds or in  a
	      time  format  specified in sshd_config(5).  A lifetime specified
	      for an identity with ssh-add(1) overrides this  value.   Without
	      this option the default maximum lifetime is forever.

	      If  a  commandline is given, this is executed as a subprocess of
	      the agent.  When the command dies, so does the agent.

	      The agent initially does not have any private  keys.   Keys  are
	      added  using  ssh-add(1).	 When executed without arguments, ssh-
	      add(1)  adds  the	  files	  ~/.ssh/id_rsa,   ~/.ssh/id_dsa   and
	      ~/.ssh/identity.	 If  the identity has a passphrase, ssh-add(1)
	      asks for the passphrase on the terminal if it has one or from  a
	      small  X11 program if running under X11.	If neither of these is
	      the case then the authentication will fail.  It then  sends  the
	      identity	to the agent.  Several identities can be stored in the
	      agent; the agent can automatically use any of these  identities.
	      ssh-add -l displays the identities currently held by the agent.

	      The  idea	 is that the agent is run in the user's local PC, lap‐
	      top, or terminal.	 Authentication data need not be stored on any
	      other  machine, and authentication passphrases never go over the
	      network.	However, the connection to the agent is forwarded over
	      SSH  remote  logins,  and	 the  user can thus use the privileges
	      given by the identities anywhere in the network in a secure way.

	      There are two main ways to get an agent set  up:	The  first  is
	      that  the agent starts a new subcommand into which some environ‐
	      ment variables are exported, eg ssh-agent xterm & .  The	second
	      is that the agent prints the needed shell commands (either sh(1)
	      or csh(1) syntax can be generated) which can be evaluated in the
	      calling  shell,  eg  eval	 `ssh-agent -s` for Bourne-type shells
	      such as sh(1) or ksh(1) and eval `ssh-agent -c` for  csh(1)  and
	      derivatives.

	      Later ssh(1) looks at these variables and uses them to establish
	      a connection to the agent.

	      The agent will never send a private key over its	request	 chan‐
	      nel.   Instead,  operations  that	 require a private key will be
	      performed by the agent, and the result will be returned  to  the
	      requester.   This	 way,  private keys are not exposed to clients
	      using the agent.

	      A UNIX-domain socket is created and the name of this  socket  is
	      stored in the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable.	 The socket is
	      made accessible only to the current user.	 This method is easily
	      abused by root or another instance of the same user.

	      The SSH_AGENT_PID environment variable holds the agent's process
	      ID.

	      The agent exits automatically when the command given on the com‐
	      mand line terminates.

FILES
       ~/.ssh/identity
	      Contains	the  protocol version 1 RSA authentication identity of
	      the user.

       ~/.ssh/id_dsa
	      Contains the protocol version 2 DSA authentication  identity  of
	      the user.

       ~/.ssh/id_rsa
	      Contains	the  protocol version 2 RSA authentication identity of
	      the user.

       /tmp/ssh-XXXXXXXXXX/agent.ppid
	      UNIX-domain sockets  used	 to  contain  the  connection  to  the
	      authentication  agent.  These sockets should only be readable by
	      the owner.  The sockets should get  automatically	 removed  when
	      the agent exits.

SEE ALSO
       ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(8)

AUTHORS
       OpenSSH	is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12 release by
       Tatu Ylonen.  Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus  Friedl,	Niels  Provos,
       Theo  de	 Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-added newer features
       and created OpenSSH.  Markus Friedl contributed	the  support  for  SSH
       protocol versions 1.5 and 2.0.

			       January 17 2010			  SSH-AGENT(1)
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