how to use java runtime.exec() and ssh to another machine to start a process

Question

is this the right approach?

 public void doSomething()
 {
    Process p;

    String[] cmd = {"/usr/bin/ssh", "someRemoteMachine", "/absPathToMyProg/myProg"};
    String[] envp = {"PATH=path_needed_toRun_myProg"};

    try
    {
        p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd,envp);

    }
    catch (IOException e)
    {
        System.err.println("Epic Fail");
    }
 }

It looks like the right general idea, but I'm not convinced that the PATH will propagate through the SSH connection; why not invoke myProg based on its fully qualified path, if you know what this is? — Andrzej Doyle
– Andrzej Doyle, Commented Jun 6, 2011 at 17:19

Suraj Chandran · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-06 17:21:20Z

3

Have you tried JSch. Its released under BSD type license. Its pure java and easy to use.

answered Jun 6, 2011 at 17:21

Suraj Chandran

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2 Comments

Chris Dennett Over a year ago

Yes, this is a much better solution than messing about with Runtime.getRuntime().exec(..)

Paŭlo Ebermann Over a year ago

By the way, it is even easier to use with documentation.

Paŭlo Ebermann · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-06 17:54:24Z

Apart from using JSch (or any other Java SSH implementation), like Suraj said, passing the Path via environment variables is likely not to work, since most SSH deamons only accept a small set of variables from the other side (mostly related to localization or terminal type).

As the argument to ssh (or the "command", if using JSch with an ChannelExec) is passed to the remote shell for execution, you could try to define the path in this command (if your default shell is something compatible to the POSIX sh):

PATH=path_needed_toRun_myProg /absPathToMyProg/myProg

Your array for Runtime.exex thus would look like this:

String[] cmd = {"/usr/bin/ssh", "someRemoteMachine",
                "PATH=path_needed_toRun_myProg /absPathToMyProg/myProg"};

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