Support all accumulating SSH config options instead of re-implementing override behavior
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 130
- Forks
- 48
- Avg merge
- 3d 3h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 15
Description
Currently we manually handle SSH config merging, but this requires re-implementing SSH's "first match wins" override behavior ourselves.
## Proposed approach
Instead of manual merging, let the SSH client handle it natively:
- Place `override` configs first in the file (SSH uses "first match wins")
- Keys without values (for non-accumulating options) can be used to remove the entry if we still want to maintain that behavior
- For accumulating options, pass entries as-is from both configs without combining them
This keeps files leaner while avoiding custom override logic.
## Accumulating SSH options to support
These options accumulate across multiple declarations rather than following "first match wins":
| Option | Behavior |
|--------|----------|
| `IdentityFile` | Tried in sequence |
| `CertificateFile` | Tried in sequence |
| `SetEnv` | All values sent to server |
| `SendEnv` | Accumulates (prefix with `-` to clear) |
| `LocalForward` | Multiple tunnels |
| `RemoteForward` | Multiple tunnels |
| `DynamicForward` | Multiple SOCKS proxies |
Additionally, these use space-separated values: `GlobalKnownHostsFile`, `UserKnownHostsFile`, `PermitRemoteOpen`, `CanonicalDomains`.
## Reference
[OpenBSD ssh_config(5)](https://man.openbsd.org/ssh_config.5)
Contributor guide
Assessment
This issue has not been assessed yet.