ssh-agent on mavericks (on some macs) doesn't seem to be able to execute /usr/libexec/ssh-agent

[kostecky]

Hi,

On one macbook using mavericks I had no trouble doing ssh-add -c keys, symlinking the script to /usr/libexec/ssh-askpass and everything works as expected.

On two other machines, it appears that the ssh-agent can not execute /usr/libexec/ssh-askpass with identical permissions. It always fails with a message "Agent admitted failure to sign using the key." as if the ssh-askpass returned an exitcode of 1. Adding some debugging to the askpass script shows that it's not even being executed.

Is there something that you've come across that would prevent ssh-agent from executing /usr/libexec/ssh-askpass? I've tried running the ssh-agent with -d(ebug), however, the debug messages are completely nonsensical and useless on both the working machine and non-working machines. ie. it doesn't tell me if it executes the ssh-askpass program.

How can I troubleshoot this further? I have a good idea of how all these components work together and the process, but just can't figure out why one ssh-agent is not able to execute the askpass program, while another has no issues.

[licheng]

it seems that the script will be executed only if $DISPLAY is set. you may try to install xquartz to see if it works

[kostecky]

Hi,

xquartz was the issue! My macbook had it installed, which is why it worked right away. The others didn't. Can the README be updated so others are aware of this very important requirement on mavericks (or any other version that doesn't come with an X server by default anymore).