On Wed, Sep 09, 2015 at 11:08:43AM +1000, Alan Williams wrote:
>
> Lee.
>
> Ah, thank you for that. I will have a go. My aim with libssh2 and its
> dependencies is not to produces a RM but just to have it linkable into a RM.
> Like the *zm files in say TCPLibs.o from Norcroft. In this case I want to
> link it with Alex Wagh's SunFish filesystem code with the nfs parts replaced
> with sshfs.
>
> The Nettle update is preceding nicely. I am still in half a mind as to
> whether I should introduce two new writable icons into the GUI or just
> continue co-opting the 'command' field. It strikes me as the command field
> could actually be useful in SSH for its intended purpose though I don't
> think it currently works.
>
> At the moment I have shared key login working if you don't have a passphrase
> on the key. I was stumped last night as keygen would not let me put a
> passphrase on my key because HostFS on virtual acorn reports all files as
> public RW. I would rather not prompt for the passphrase if it's not
> necessary for the key, but I am not sure yet how to tell that in advance.
> There looks to be some call back system which can be used but that might
> complicate things too much. Anyway I will put a pass phrase on my key and
> see what happens in the next few days.
Donning my security hat for a moment, I think it's better to prompt for
things as they're needed rather than upfront. For example, the first prompt
might be that the host key is not stored, then the next that the host key
matched and the plaintext password/key passphrase/other auth token. If the
host key is incorrect, you don't want to go anywhere near revealing your key
- it's better security UI design if the user isn't asked to enter it so they
can be sure of that. You can of course store it for automated login, but
there is an implicit tradeoff of your security with that.
PuTTY does it in-window, which is a) simpler and b) have a nice binding to
the session - it's harder to mix up which machine you think it's being sent
to than a popup.
In case any, SSH auth proceeds as a series of negotiation steps: 'I can do
smartcard auth, can you? Oh you can't do that, but I have this type of
key, will that do? No? How about this key? That looks good, I'll just
find out what the passphrase is...'. You don't know which keys are going to
get used until you've talked to the remote end.
Another thing to consider is you might have your key held by an
authentication agent (ssh-agent, OS X Keychain, GNOME Keyring) in which case
you tell the passphrase to the agent not to SSH, and SSH interacts with the
agent. Using an agent to hold your keys may simplify some of your UI
questions (while raising some security ones).
> I am also thinking of giving it an option to automatically place selections
> on the clipboard as Putty does on windows.
Sounds good.
Theo
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