Bug 291

Summary:	/tmp/ssh-xxxx socket directories clutter up /tmp
Product:	Portable OpenSSH	Reporter:	Peter Simons <simons>
Component:	ssh-agent	Assignee:	OpenSSH Bugzilla mailing list <openssh-bugs>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX
Severity:	normal
Priority:	P2
Version:	-current
Hardware:	Other
OS:	Other

Description Peter Simons 2002-06-25 18:50:21 AEST

Would it be possible to put the directories holding the ssh-agent's socket to
some other location than /tmp? I am asking, because on a highly frequented
system, those directories clutter-up /tmp significantly. Maybe /var/run or
/var/spool/sockets would be a more appropriate place for them? Or would you
consider using /tmp/.ssh-xxxx instead so that at least the directories are not
visible all the time, like X11 and others do it?

Thanks!

Comment 1 Kevin Steves 2002-07-27 12:14:38 AEST

/tmp is the most portable world-writable location.
as to hiding them with dot, i just don't see strong
justification for this.

Comment 2 Peter Simons 2002-07-28 21:26:46 AEST

Is there any strong justification for _not_ hiding them with a dot?
Or could you add a configure option (or run-time configure option) that
let's me change this without having to patch the source code?

Comment 3 Ben Lindstrom 2002-07-29 08:53:27 AEST

Because you end up with worthless options and feature creep.  There are too 
many options as it is right now.

Comment 4 Peter Simons 2002-07-29 18:21:32 AEST

Changing the name of the /tmp/ssh-xxxx directory to /tmp/.ssh-xxx won't require
any options to be added but it would still solve my problem ... somewhat. Would
you please consider doing that then?

Comment 5 Markus Friedl 2002-07-29 18:32:07 AEST

why is it a problem if they are visible? they should be.
apart from this, changing the name might break existing
scripts.

Comment 6 Peter Simons 2002-07-29 19:04:43 AEST

Well, it is a problem because on a multi-user system there are _hundreds_ of
them. And it's not only hundreds of ssh-agent sockets, it's hundreds of Emacs
server sockets, ORBit sockets, X11 sockets and so on and so forth. Once the
system has been up and running for a few weeks, you cannot possibly read the
output from a "ls /tmp" without getting a 23" screen first ...

Comment 7 Damien Miller 2002-09-10 22:18:38 AEST

ssh-agent supports the -a option to specify a socket path. Tell you users.

Comment 8 Damien Miller 2004-04-14 12:24:18 AEST

Mass change of RESOLVED bugs to CLOSED