If you are using GNOME or KDE they both have mechanisms to add a ssh agent when you log in. They maintain a locked cache of your ssh keys. The first time you open a ssh session, a popup will ask for your passwd to the cache, and then for the duration of your login session the agent has your keys.
If your using neither of these window management systems, there is a tool called Keychain, that provides the same sort of service. You invoke keychain in your .login (or other appropriate startup script) with a mode setting and list of public keys, and it takes care of the rest. The gnome and kde solutions are designed to terminate the agent when you log off. I believe in gnome, it is actually the first process in the login chain. With keychain you can set it up to terminate on logoff, or to remain running, and the next login (assuming no reboot inbetween) will find the agent previously setup, and use it. It used to be distributed off an IBM website, but I see it's now at http://www.funtoo.org/Keychain There is also a 3 part article on setting up ssh on the website. All three of these solutions (and your adding ssh-agent and ssh-add to your .bash_login script) have the same effect. When you log in you get prompted once for a passwd. The first three delay the prompt until you actually try to use ssh. steve Rich Shepard wrote: > My laptops are not always on. When I do fire up one and want to exchange > files with the desktop each transaction requires my typing my passphrase. > Can I add ssh-agent and ssh-add to ~/.bash_profile so I need type the > passphrase only once after booting a host? > > Rich > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
