SDB Talk:OpenSSH agent

xinit vs. XDM/KDM/GDM

The examples used in this articles make use of the xinitrc way of starting and X desktop from the command line. However, the XDM way should be used instead. As quoted from man xserver - Starting the server:

The X server is usually started from the X Display Manager program xdm(1) or a similar display manager program. This utility is run from the system boot files and takes care of keeping the server running, prompting for usernames and passwords, and starting up the user sessions.

Installations that run more than one window system may need to use the xinit(1) utility instead of a display manager. However, xinit is to be considered a tool for building startup scripts and is not intended for use by end users. Site administrators are strongly urged to use a display manager, or build other interfaces for novice users...

In openSUSE KDM or GDM replaces XDM by default.

So the .xinitrc and the .xsession part should be removed. The second part however, using the PAM settings should be used to expand this article. With the correct PAM settings and software installed, ssh-agent should work from any kind of login. (Bash, KDM, GDM, XDM or any kind of other flavour). If this way is used, also the people using the xinitrc will be able to use ssh-agent, as it is launched upon PAM authentication on bash login.

This way is already tested by me in a different distro. For the comming weeks I won't be able to test (and set) it on a openSUSE box. So can somebody test the correct PAM settings, update the section and delete .xinitrc and .xsession sections.

--Muhlemmer 08:18, 17 January 2011 (MST)

Xsession

I just found out xsession can be used to setup a custom DE. So it needs to be included in the article anyways. I still have to do some research on the scripts though. (Are they still the same in the newer versions?) Or can we not use .xinitrc and just make our own simple script in .xsession. Eg:

ssh-add &
exec ssh-agent startkde

I updated the first part of the article, to be more informative than it was, eg what can we use ssh-agent for and some basic invocation.

--Muhlemmer 15:18, 19 January 2011 (MST)

Xsession Done

The xsession part of the article has been rewritten and tested to openSUSE 11.3. The PAM part still needs to be done. --Muhlemmer 06:59, 21 January 2011 (MST)

ksshaskpass

There is an article http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Ssh-agent_KDE_Wallet describing the KDE setup --Pinysuse 14:51, 25 March 2012 (MDT)