|  | 
 NAME     
 |  |  |  | ssh-agent – SSH authentication agent 
 | 
 SYNOPSIS     
 |  |  |  | ssh−agent [ −l ] factotum-service 
 | 
 DESCRIPTION     
 |  |  |  | Ssh-agent presents factotum(4) using the interface that ssh(1)
    requires. 
    
    
    Once ssh-agent and factotum are running, the standard Unix SSH
    client can use ssh-agent (and, indirectly, factotum) to authenticate
    to remote systems using RSA or DSA keys. 
    
    
    Ssh accesses ssh-agent via a Unix socket named ssh−agent.socket
    in the name space directory (see intro(4)). Note that although
    the socket is posted in the name space directory, it is not for
    9P conversations. Ssh expects the name of this socket to be in
    the environment as $SSH_AGENT_SOCK, and expects the agent to be
    running with process id
    $SSH_AGENT_PID. Ssh-agent prints shell commands to set these two
    variables before forking itself into the background. It is typically
    invoked inside a shell eval construct; see the examples below.
    The −e option causes ssh-agent to include export commands to put
    the variables into the environment of future programs. 
    
    
    If the −l option is given, ssh-agent lists the usable factotum
    keys in the standard SSH format, suitable for creating an authorized_keys
    file. 
    
    
    Ssh-agent connects to factotum by accessing factotum-service (default
    ‘factotum’) in the current name space. 
    
    
    There is a Unix program called ssh-agent that manages SSH keys
    itself. Invoke this one with 9 ssh−agent; see 9(1). 
 | 
 EXAMPLES     
 |  |  |  | Assume factotum(4) is already running and initialized with keys.
    
    
    
    Start a new agent, copying the commands by hand: 
 Start the agent from sh(1):|  |  |  | $ 9 ssh−agent −e SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/ssh−405795003d7ee27a/agent.4233;
 export SSH_AUTH_SOCK;
 SSH_AGENT_PID=4233;
 export SSH_AGENT_PID;
 $ SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/ssh−405795003d7ee27a/agent.4233;
 $ export SSH_AUTH_SOCK;
 $ SSH_AGENT_PID=4233;
 $ export SSH_AGENT_PID;
 $
 
 | 
 
 Start the agent from rc(1):|  |  |  | $ eval `9 ssh−agent −e` $
 
 | 
 Use the agent to connect to a remote system:
 
 | 
 SOURCE     
 SEE ALSO    
 BUGS     
 |  |  |  | A surprise rather than a bug: ssh-agent connects to factotum on
    demand, so it can be started before factotum is running and need
    not be restarted just because factotum is. 
 | 
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