cdt/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.ssh

Readme for RSE ssh service
--------------------------

The RSE ssh plugin allows to connect the RSE Remote Command View to 
a remote host through the secure shell (ssh) protocol.
This plugin is meant as a proof-of-concept. The code does not have
product quality yet, and there are lots of open issues (marked as
TODO in the code). But it is functional for setting up an ssh shell
connection.

__Requirements:__
The ssh service plugin requires Eclipse 3.3 or later.

__Installation:__
You need an Eclipse PDE Workspace with RSE.
Then, choose File > Import > Existing Projects > Archive File,
to import the ssh service archive.

__Usage:__
* Start RSE, create a new system of type "SSH Only".
* If you store your ssh private keys in a non-standard place, use
  Window > Preferences > Team > CVS > SSh2 Connection Method > General
  to set the ssh home directory, and private key types to be used.
* Select the "Shells" node and choose Contextmenu > Launch Shell.
* Enter your username and password on the remote system. If you want
  to use private-key authentication, just enter any dummy password -
  you will be asked for the passphrase of your keyring later, or
  the connection will succeed without further prompting if your key
  ring has an empty passphrase.
* When asked to accept remote host authenticity, press OK.
* Enter the correct password for ssh on the remote system (this is only
  necessary if you are not using a private key).

__Known Limitations:__
* Symbolic Links are not resolved (readlink not supported by jsch-0.1.28)
* Ssh timeouts are not observed (no automatic reconnect)
  - after auto-logout, further actions will show a "connect cancel"
    message and connection will go down
* Password and passphrase internal handling has not been checked for
  security against malicious reading from other Eclipse plugins.

__Known Issues:__
* A dummy password must be entered on initial connect, empty
  password should be allowed if private key authentication is used
* After some time, the connection may freeze and need to be
  disconnected.
* Command service should be provided in addition to the remote shell service.
* Extremely long remote command output may lead to an Exception
  due to memory exhaustion (ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException)
* "Break" can not be sent to the remote system in order to cancel
  long-running jobs on the remote side. 
* The plugin currently uses some "internal" classes from the 
  org.eclipse.team.cvs.ui plugin. This needs to be cleaned up.
* For other internal coding issues, see TODO items in the code.

__Changelog:__
v0.3:
* support Keyboard Interactive Authentication. 
* Fix interaction with RSE passwords.
* Fix connection lost notifications
v0.2:
* Re-use Team/CVS/ssh2 preferences for ssh2 home and private keys specification
  Allows to do the ssh login without password if private/public key are set up.
* Key management from Team/CVS/ssh2 Preferences can also be used
* Add sftp files subsystem
* Fix status after disconnect operation
* Update about.html