SSH password as a command-line parameter?

[Dick Davies]

On 18/06/06, Daniel Carrera <daniel.carrera at zmsl.com> wrote:

> I see... their suggestion comes down to having a blank password on the
> ssh key. If that's their suggestion then I guess it must be the only
> option so I'll have to go for that. Thanks for those links.

You could have a look at ssh-agent(1) for another way, but it's not as
versatile.

With your existing solution, the passphrase shows up in ps(1), which
is really bad.

Essentially, if you have a script with the password specified in it,
you're relying on file permissions to keep that secret anyway, so you
might as well go for a blank passphrase RSA key. If you're paranoid,
then check the docs for authorized_keys - you can restrict the blank
passphrased key to only run certain commands on the server end, while
using another key for your general use.

-- 
Rasputin :: Jack of All Trades - Master of Nuns
http://number9.hellooperator.net/