Hi Devs,
would it be possible to integrate support (1) for PuTTY-style ssh private key files (*.ppk) into the X2Go client, or (2) to run a ssh-agent (maybe from cygwin, or copied from PuTTY's "pageant.exe") *within* the X2Go client, so other applications can authenticate with the same key?
PuTTY's license does allow copying their code into GPLed code, as it seems.
The idea behind (2) this is that the X2Go client on Windows would be able to provide authentication information to WinSCP and similar tools. (1) would simply make life easier for users that already have a private key stored in PuTTY's format. At present they either have to run PuTTYgen to convert it into the format X2Go client understands, or run pageant.exe, PuTTY's ssh agent.
-Stefan
On 2012-05-16 13:33, Stefan Baur wrote:
would it be possible to integrate support (1) for PuTTY-style ssh private key files (*.ppk) into the X2Go client, or (2)
Adding a feature to allow importing ppk by calling PuTTYgen might be reasonable.
to run a ssh-agent (maybe from cygwin, or copied from PuTTY's "pageant.exe") *within* the X2Go client, so other applications can authenticate with the same key?
IMO this is not a good idea. It adds functionality that is out of scope and adds additional cmplexity.
[..] or run pageant.exe, PuTTY's ssh agent.
This is probably the best solution as it provides a clean separation of concerns.
Cheers Morty
-- Dipl.-Ing. Moritz 'Morty' Struebe (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Verteilte Systeme und Betriebssysteme) Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Martensstr. 1 91058 Erlangen
Tel : +49 9131 85-25419 Fax : +49 9131 85-28732 eMail : struebe@informatik.uni-erlangen.de WWW : http://www4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/~morty
Am 16.05.2012 13:50, schrieb Moritz Struebe:
On 2012-05-16 13:33, Stefan Baur wrote:
would it be possible to integrate support (1) for PuTTY-style ssh private key files (*.ppk) into the X2Go client, or (2)
Adding a feature to allow importing ppk by calling PuTTYgen might be reasonable.
Simply adding an import option will cause issues when users want to change the password - they will have to do it once in PuTTYgen for their PPK file, and once in X2Go client (or re-import the key).
I'd prefer it if X2Go client would be able to read such key files natively, without having to call PuTTYgen each time, or forcing an export/import action.
to run a ssh-agent (maybe from cygwin, or copied from PuTTY's "pageant.exe") *within* the X2Go client, so other applications can authenticate with the same key?
IMO this is not a good idea. It adds functionality that is out of scope and adds additional cmplexity.
Assuming that a ssh-agent is available in cygwin, calling that in the background (so it doesn't show up as an extra icon) wouldn't introduce that much new code into the client.
[..] or run pageant.exe, PuTTY's ssh agent.
This is probably the best solution as it provides a clean separation of concerns.
It's the safest from a security standpoint, but it's the worst from a usability standpoint, as it requires configuration in two different locations (a batch file loading pageant and the proper key, and the X2Go client configuration) and also needs two icons in the notification area
- if a user terminates pageant.exe, X2Go Client will fail to work. Explaining why that is the case to a non-technical user will prompt a "Why isn't it all integrated into one application? That's stupid! Duh!" kind of response.
-Stefan
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Moritz Struebe -
Stefan Baur