what is ssh-sgent?

[John K Masters]

On 04:04 Sun 04 May     , Cliff wrote:
> Chris G wrote:
>     On Sat, May 03, 2008 at 09:59:06PM +0100, John K Masters wrote:
>         On 21:29 Sat 03 May     , andy baxter wrote:
>     You probably can't turn it off, not in any sort of proper
>     configuration driven way anyway.  I wanted to turn it off on my system
>     and it appears to be hard coded into the xdm/gdm/kdm startup scripts.
>     ssh-agent will be started if it exists, you'd have to edit the scripts
>     to stop it.
> 

>     For my situation ssh-agent is pointless, my desktop stays up all day
>     (both at home and at work) so once a password is entered into
>     ssh-agent anyone walking up to my machine can use the remote ssh logins.
>     Hence I just set up for passwordless login (i.e. public key) and
>     ignore ssh-agent, all ssh-agent does is add more hassle.

If you leave your machine unattended and logged in then, yes, someone
could use the ssh logins. They could also do lots more. If you logout
when you leave your machine then, unless someone has your login details,
ssh-agent is perfectly safe. 
> 
> Here is what I found:
> This is the website I got it from:    http://www.phil.uu.nl/~xges/ssh/
> See also:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ssh-agent
> 
> From what I understand, you would NOT want to remove it, if I read the thread
> right.  Granted, it may be a hassle.
> It may be protecting your machine, unbeknown  to you.
> 
> Cliff
> 
If you do not need to run ssh then you can (should) stop it starting at
boot. System>Administration>Services - untick Remote Shell Server.

If you need ssh then you're stuck with ssh-agent

-- 
Wisdom is divided into two parts 
  1.  Having a great deal to say
  2.  Not saying it
Regards, John