CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashexpect
WurmD
WurmD

Reputation: 1483

ssh-keygen with expect in 1 command line and no passphrase

I'm trying to have one command line to execute ssh-keygen and generate the keys with no further user input (no passphrase)

I'd expect this to have been enough

expect -d -c "spawn ssh-keygen; expect -re {.*: } { send '\n' }; expect -re {.*: } { send '\n' }; expect -re {.*: } { send '\n' }"

However after the final step, it simply exits.

Attempting one more layer

expect -d -c "spawn ssh-keygen; expect -re {.*: } { send '\n' }; expect -re {.*: } { send '\n' }; expect -re {.*: } { send '\n' }; expect -re {.*: } { send '\n' }"

It complains Saving key "'" failed: passphrase is too short (minimum five characters)

Why does expect ssh-keygen command exits on the first attempt without completing?

Why does ssh-keygen complains that he received "'" when he supposedly received \n?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 301

Answers (2)

chepner
chepner

Reputation: 531045

You don't need expect for this. Just specify an empty passphrase with the -N option.

ssh-keygen -f foo -N ''

Upvotes: 2

meuh
meuh

Reputation: 12255

If you want a one-liner try

expect -c 'spawn ssh-keygen; expect : { send \n; exp_continue} eof'

Strings in expect do not use ' for quoting. You can use "" or {} depending on your string. The use of .* in the pattern serves no real purpose in this example, so you may as well just match on :. The use of exp_continue will loop through the same expect statement. eof matches end of file.

Upvotes: 1

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