[lug] VPN or SSH for cvs?

[rotering at animalcules.com]

On Wed, Nov 21, 2001 at 12:48:59PM -0700, D. Stimits wrote:

> I'm using ssh for the :ext: method of cvs to run commands [...] But
> I have to use my password each time [...]

Try using ssh-agent to store your keys.  If you're running x, starting
ssh-agent at the beginning of the session allows all subsequent logins
within that session to use the agent, which is very convenient.

For example, I start ssh-agent in my .xsession file:

        exec ssh-agent gnome-session

After the agent is started, use ssh-add to add keys.  Without
arguments, ssh-add uses $HOME/.ssh/identity.  To ad a DSA key, use
ssh-add ~/.ssh/identity_dsa (or whatever your DSA private key is
called).

If the key has an associated passphrase, you authenticate once to the
agent and all subsequent authentications are handled automagically.
It's really quite convenient, particularly when you're using CVS
actively.

As always, see the man pages for ssh-agent and ssh-add for details.