ssh-askpass on Mac OS 10.9/Mavericks broken?

Problem solved! When in doubt, read the source...

ssh-agent won't call ssh-askpass unless the DISPLAY env variable is set. Most likely it has been working on earlier installations, since I had X11 installed. Not on this box (yet).

Workaround:

Patch the ssh-agent LaunchAgents file:

--- org.openbsd.ssh-agent.plist.orig    2014-05-22 09:55:53.000000000 +0200
+++ /System/Library/LaunchAgents/org.openbsd.ssh-agent.plist    2014-05-22 09:56:31.000000000 +0200
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@
        <string>/usr/bin/ssh-agent</string>
        <string>-l</string>
    </array>
+   <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
+   <dict>
+       <key>DISPLAY</key>
+       <string>:0</string>
+   </dict>
    <key>ServiceIPC</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Sockets</key>

Then restart your computer.

Or reload it by force, however SSH_AUTH_SOCK will be invalid in all new terminal sessions:

launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchAgents/org.openbsd.ssh-agent.plist                        
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchAgents/org.openbsd.ssh-agent.plist
export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=$(launchctl getenv SSH_AUTH_SOCK)                 
ssh-add -c ....

Problem solved!

Note: the ssh-agent plist file will probably be overwritten on upgrade... Might be cleaner ways to ensure DISPLAY is set.

ssh-askpass on Mac OS 10.9/Mavericks broken?

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