ssh not using gnome-ssh-askpass

[Ryan Culpepper]

When I run ssh, it prompts me for my private key's passphrase on the terminal, not in a separate window. If I run ssh again, it prompts again at the terminal. (By "terminal" I really mean an instance of gnome-terminal.)

I expected the following behavior: When I run ssh the first time for this particular host, it should prompt for my passphrase in a new window. When I run ssh again after that, it should succeed without prompting at all.

If I run "env" in the terminal, I see values for SSH_AGENT_PID and SSH_AUTH_SOCK as well as GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL. If I run "ps -ax" I see both ssh-agent and gnome-keyring-daemon running. Finally, /etc/alternatives/ssh-askpass is linked to /usr/lib/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass.

If I run "ssh-add" explicitly to add the key, it also prompts me for my password at the terminal, but after that, ssh uses the unlocked key (that is, it no longer prompts for that key's passphrase).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: ssh-askpass-gnome 1:6.0p1-3ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-17.28-generic 3.5.5
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Oct 18 15:21:15 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Beta amd64 (20120926)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: openssh
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

Thanks for reporting this bug. I only see this behavior if I'm using certain window managers, or if I'm ssh'd into another (or local) host.

Can you tell us which window manager you are using, and what 'dpkg -l | grep ssh-askpass-gnome' shows?

[Ryan Culpepper (ryan-sml)]

I'm using compiz (the default).

Running "dpkg -l | grep ssh-askpass-gnome" produces one line:

ii ssh-askpass-gnome 1:6.0p1-3ubuntu1 amd64 interactive X program to prompt users for a passphrase for ssh-add

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Bart Swennen (bswennen)]

Confirming on Ringtail as well.

Solution: make sure you have a public key file in ~/.ssh

Create it with ssh-keygen -y from your private key if you don't have the public key in a separate file.

If key.pub is available, gnome-ssh-askpass pops up and asks for the passphrase.

Without the key.pub, gnome-ssh-askpass doesn't pop up even though the private key file is there.

[Penelope Fudd (login-launchpad-net-x)]

Confirming on Precise Pangolin, although with KDE, ssh-askpass and ksshaskpass. Not solved yet.

If I run ssh-askpass or ksshaskpass from the command line, it prints my ssh key passphrase to stdout (!), derived from my password wallet.

Running ssh-add from the command line puts my key into the ssh-agent, and I don't get asked for my passphrase any more.

I do have a public key file in ~/.ssh. It's just that either ssh isn't running ssh-askpass when it should, or kssh-askpass isn't submitting the passphrase to ssh-agent, or ssh-agent isn't doing the right thing when asked.

Is it ssh-agent or ssh that calls ssh-askpass?

Thanks

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

Still an issue on bionic or later?

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

closing as unreproducible