ssh commands and password requests in a bash script

Question

I am trying to make a script that will sync with another folder over a ssh connection. What I want to do is sync my local folder with the folder over ssh and then perform an ssh login. For these two commands I need to enter the same password and it's a little annoying so I am trying to make a script for it to put my password into a temporary variable and pass that variable to the two spots it is requested. This is what I have.

read -s -p "Enter Password: " mypassword && echo "$mypassword" 
| rsync -vz -r `~/Desktop/Market_Maker/Market_Maker [email protected]:~/281_Projects 
&& echo | "$mypassword" ssh [email protected]`

What this ends up doing is gives me 3 password prompts and does not work at all. What is wrong with the script?

The easier option would be to use ssh keys and leave out the password thing. You cannot use echo to pass passwords into a prompt. — stmfunk
– stmfunk, Commented Mar 22, 2014 at 20:09
My school computer prevent ssh keys for security reasons (from what i'm told) — mgild
– mgild, Commented Mar 22, 2014 at 20:10
What you are attempting is a hundred times more insecure and quite likely in violation of your school's security policy as well. — tripleee
– tripleee, Commented Mar 23, 2014 at 18:43

stmfunk · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-23 18:20:36Z

2

Consider using sshpass to store your password for a specific login. Once installed you can run the command:

sshpass -p 'PASSWORD' ssh [email protected]

to login to the server. I think that might be the functionality you are looking for. You might also consider setting the RSYNC_PASSWORD variable to be the password in the script.

If you want to avoid storing your password in the script you can prompt for it using:

read -s RSYNC_PASSWORD

This will store the password for the duration of the scripts execution.

edited Mar 23, 2014 at 18:20

answered Mar 22, 2014 at 20:15

stmfunk

6835 silver badges20 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

mgild Over a year ago

Well then I would have to store my password in the script, which I would prefer to avoid if I could

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

ssh commands and password requests in a bash script

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related