Getting ssh-agent to work with git run from windows command shell

Question

I have msysgit installed, with OpenSSH. I am connecting to a gitosis repo. From the git bash, I have created a .profile file that runs ssh-agent (if not already running) each time git bash is opened, using this script

SSH_ENV=$HOME/.ssh/environment

function start_agent {
     echo "Initialising new SSH agent..."
     /usr/bin/ssh-agent | sed 's/^echo/#echo/' > ${SSH_ENV}
     echo succeeded
     chmod 600 ${SSH_ENV}
     . ${SSH_ENV} > /dev/null
     /usr/bin/ssh-add;
}

# Source SSH settings, if applicable

if [ -f "${SSH_ENV}" ]; then
     . ${SSH_ENV} > /dev/null
     #ps ${SSH_AGENT_PID} doesn't work under cywgin
     ps -ef | grep ${SSH_AGENT_PID} | grep ssh-agent$ > /dev/null || {
         start_agent;
     }
else
     start_agent;
fi

I am also using git extensions, which runs the git command from the Windows command prompt, not git bash. So, ssh doesn't see the ssh-agent that is running. Is it possible to fix this?

Answer 1

I had the same problem as you, then I tried adding this code

#! /bin/bash 
eval `ssh-agent -s` 
ssh-add ~/.ssh/*_rsa

into file .bashrc in my home directory. And it works!

Answer 2

For msysgit you might have to modify a bit the solution offered by https://help.github.com/articles/working-with-ssh-key-passphrases

declare -x SSH_ENV="$HOME/.ssh/environment"

# start the ssh-agent
function start_agent {
    echo "Initializing new SSH agent..."
    # spawn ssh-agent
    ssh-agent | sed 's/^echo/#echo/' > "$SSH_ENV"
    echo succeeded
    chmod 600 "$SSH_ENV"
    . "$SSH_ENV" > /dev/null
    ssh-add
}

# test for identities
function test_identities {
    # test whether standard identities have been added to the agent already
    ssh-add -l | grep "The agent has no identities" > /dev/null
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        ssh-add
        # $SSH_AUTH_SOCK broken so we start a new proper agent
        if [ $? -eq 2 ];then
            start_agent
        fi
    fi
}

# check for running ssh-agent with proper $SSH_AGENT_PID
if [ -n "$SSH_AGENT_PID" ]; then
    ps -f -u $USERNAME | grep "$SSH_AGENT_PID" | grep ssh-agent > /dev/null
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
  test_identities
    fi
else
    if [ -f "$SSH_ENV" ]; then
    . "$SSH_ENV" > /dev/null
    fi
    ps -f -u $USERNAME | grep "$SSH_AGENT_PID" | grep ssh-agent > /dev/null
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        test_identities
    else
        start_agent
    fi
fi

As you may notice the only change I did was in the ps call, since msysgit don't use -U but -u

Answer 3

Even though you've probably solved it... use the eval command to make the ssh_agent process stick:

eval `ssh-agent.exe`

Then use ssh-add to add the keys you need.