paramiko / paramiko/paramiko

implicit user is not inhered from ~/.ssh/config

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#1,383 3 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Python
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Description

While openssh is fully able to make use of the user specified in in ~/.ssh/config file, paramiko fails to load it from there and this can cause a huge reange of confusing authentication errors, none of them directly indicating a wrong user.

I spend hours and hours tryign to figure out why some paramiko applications where failing to connect and getting errors like PasswordRequiredException when the real issue was just the username.

I had to enable debbuging on the ssh server in order to dicover that.

Can we do something to address this issue, it seems that I am not an isolated case confused by this behavior.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing a Paramiko connection that relies on the user specified in ~/.ssh/config, then compare its behavior with OpenSSH. Trace how Paramiko handles SSH configuration and authentication, and consider the reported behavior fixed when the configured username is used so connections no longer fail because Paramiko ignores it.

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Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
networking
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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