"No such file or directory" when call ProxyCommand through Python script

Question

Here is my very simple piece of code aiming at connecting to a ssh server through a local socks proxy on port 8888

    import subprocess  
    host = 'X.x.X.x'
    port = 22
    subprocess.call(  [
      "ssh", 
      "-o", "ProxyCommand='/bin/socat - SOCKS4A:127.0.0.1:%h:%p,socksport=8888'",
      "-p", "{}".format(port),
      "root@{}".format(host)
    ])

However, I got an ugly error message when trying executing.

    /bin/bash: /bin/socat - SOCKS4A:127.0.0.1:X.x.X.x:22,socksport=8888: No such file or directory
    ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

What is trange is that is work when copy pasting directly the full comand line on the shell.

Answer 1

It's a bit late but I just had the same problem when running with execvp. You need to remove the quotes around the ProxyCommand, e.g.

import subprocess  
host = 'X.x.X.x'
port = 22
subprocess.call(  [
  "ssh", 
  "-o", "ProxyCommand=/bin/socat - SOCKS4A:127.0.0.1:%h:%p,socksport=8888",
  "-p", "{}".format(port),
  "root@{}".format(host)
])

These are removed by your shell when you run on the command line.