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Robust SSH integration

ghostty-org/ghostty
Based on 6 comments
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When implementing SSH integration in your application, follow these practices to ensure reliability across different systems: 1. **Preserve user context**: Include user information in SSH target identification, as many operations (like terminfo installation) write to user-specific directories.

Networking Other

Reviewer Prompt

When implementing SSH integration in your application, follow these practices to ensure reliability across different systems:

  1. Preserve user context: Include user information in SSH target identification, as many operations (like terminfo installation) write to user-specific directories.
# AVOID: Only capturing hostname
ssh_hostname="$(ssh -G "$@" | grep hostname | cut -d' ' -f2)"

# BETTER: Capture full user@host target
ssh_config=$(ssh -G "$@" 2>/dev/null)
while IFS=' ' read -r key value; do
  case "$key" in
    user) ssh_user="$value" ;;
    hostname) ssh_hostname="$value" ;;
  esac
done < <(ssh -G "$@" 2>/dev/null)
ssh_target="${ssh_user}@${ssh_hostname}"
  1. Minimize environment changes: Avoid modifying the local environment when possible. For environment variable overrides, set them at the command level instead of exporting and restoring:
# AVOID: Modifying and restoring environment
export TERM="$ssh_term_override"
command ssh "${ssh_opts[@]}" "$@"
export TERM="$original_term"

# BETTER: Override at command level
command TERM="$ssh_term_override" ssh "${ssh_opts[@]}" "$@"
  1. Clarify tool locations: Document clearly which tools must exist locally versus remotely. For SSH operations like terminfo installation, be explicit about requirements:
# Local check (infocmp needed locally)
if ! command -v infocmp >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "Warning: infocmp command not available locally for terminfo export." >&2
  return 1
fi

# Remote check (tic needed remotely)
if ! ssh "$host" "command -v tic >/dev/null 2>&1"; then
  echo "Warning: tic command not available on remote host for terminfo installation." >&2
  return 1
fi
  1. Use minimal commands: Remove unnecessary operations in remote commands to improve reliability and performance:
# AVOID: Redundant commands
ssh "$host" 'mkdir -p ~/.terminfo/x 2>/dev/null && tic -x -o ~/.terminfo /dev/stdin'

# BETTER: Let tic handle directory creation
ssh "$host" 'tic -x - 2>/dev/null'
  1. Understand SSH options: Use SSH options like SendEnv and SetEnv appropriately based on their behavior across different server configurations.
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