Save all 'ssh' commands to a file - bash

I log into a lot of servers via ssh. Typically I just use the easy bash history search to scroll through my history of 'ssh' commands and find the one I want. However, eventually my .bash_history reaches its limit and I start losing entries, despite increasing the limits, etc..
I would rather just adjust my $PROMPT_COMMAND so that after every command, it checks to see if I ran a command with ssh, and if so, appends that command to a file somewhere.
I saw some relevant questions asked here and here but I am struggling to understand how to use these in a function that I can source from my .bashrc and add to my $PROMPT_COMMAND that will check if the last command entered started with ssh and copy it to a file.
For example, this does not work:
$ PROMPT_COMMAND="echo; foo; "
$ foo () { echo "command was: $BASH_COMMAND" ; }
$ ssh cn-0030
...(Ctrl-D)...
$ logout
Connection to cn-0030 closed.
command was: echo "command was: $BASH_COMMAND"
This also does not work:
$ foo () { echo !! | grep ssh --color ; }
Because !! gets expanded into the actual last command run immediately and then saved into foo, instead of being evaluated when foo is evaluated

Related

capture the command that launched the running process in my shell

I try to make the title of my windows in GNU screen automatically equal to the path of the working directory PLUS the process running if there is one (e.g: npm start or vim file.js)
for that purpose I added these lines in my .zshrc :
precmd () {
local action = action_to_define
if [[ $TERM == screen* ]]; then
printf -Pn '\ek%~ $action\e\\'
fi
}
this send (somehow) the path as a title to screen (see this post)
and the variable action would print the running program if it exist
I tried local action= $(history | tail -1 | sed 's#[0-9 ]*##') because this select the prompt of the last command in the history (just like history !! would do if the option !! was recognized, which is not for some reason...)
and local action= $(ps -lr | tail -1 | sed 's#^.*:...##') because this select the command of the running process
but it doesn't works, as if the process was not captured neither by history or ps... maybe precmd run before the action is launched, so I tried other functions like preexec or zshaddhistory without any luck...
The precmd hook is only run after a command finished, just before the next prompt is displayed. So it can be used to change the terminal title for when the prompt is shown. In order to change the terminal title when a command is run, you need the preexec hook, which is run after a command was accepted (after hitting Enter, just before the command is run.
When confirming a command on the prompt, this command is then passed to preexec as arguments in three forms
The first argument is the string that was typed, including any new-lines (As long as the history mechanism is active, which it usually is)
The second argument is a single line, size-limited (it is cut off, if it gets too long) version of the command with expanded aliases.
The third argument is the full text of the command that is actually run (with expanded aliases)
So this should do the trick:
preexec () {
local action="$1"
if [[ $TERM == screen* ]]; then
printf -Pn '\ek%~ $action\e\\'
fi
}
As precmd hook is only run, before prompting the next command, it can be simplified:
precmd () {
if [[ $TERM == screen* ]]; then
printf -Pn '\ek%~\e\\'
fi
}
Although it is not the main reason why it would not work, it is important to note that in Zsh (and most other Unix shells) there must be no spaces before or after = when assigning values to parameters.
The exact behavior might differ, depending on where you put spaces and whether you use something like local or set or just plain assignments.
To use the code from the question as example:
putting spaces before and after = with local will usually result in a bad assignment
% local action = action_to_define
zsh: bad assignment
putting spaces only after = with local will assign an empty string to the variable and either create/set another empty variable or result in a context error, depending on whether the intended value would be a viable parameter name:
% local action= "echo"
This empties action and echo
% local action= "echo foo"
local: not valid in this context: echo foo
Here action is emptied, too, but local fails after because echo foo is not a viable parameter name due to the included space.

Piping to a process when the process doesn't exist?

Say I start with the following statement, which echo-s a string into the ether:
$ echo "foo" 1>/dev/null
I then submit the following pipeline:
$ echo "foo" | cat -e - 1>/dev/null
I then leave the process out:
$ echo "foo" | 1>/dev/null
Why is this not returning an error message? The documentation on bash and piping doesn't seem to make direct mention of may be the cause. Is there an EOF sent before the first read from echo (or whatever the process is, which is running upstream of the pipe)?
A shell simple command is not required to have a command name. For a command without a command-name:
variable assignments apply to the current execution environment. The following will set two variables to argument values:
arg1=$1 arg3=$3
redirections occur in a subshell, but the subshell doesn't do anything other than initialize the redirect. The following will truncate or create the indicated file (if you have appropriate permissions):
>/file/to/empty
However, a command must have at least one word. A completely empty command is a syntax error (which is why it is occasionally necessary to use :).
Answer summarized from Posix XCU§2.9.1

Why isn't this command returning to shell after &?

In Ubuntu 14.04, I created the following bash script:
flock -nx "$1" xdg-open "$1" &
The idea is to lock the file specified in $1 (flock), then open it in my usual editor (xdg-open), and finally return to prompt, so I can open other files in sequence (&).
However, the & isn't working as expected. I need to press Enter to make the shell prompt appear again. In simpler constructs, such as
gedit test.txt &
it works as it should, returning the prompt immediately. I think it has to do with the existence of two commands in the first line. What am I doing wrong, please?
EDIT
The prompt is actually there, but it is somehow "hidden". If I issue the command
sudo ./edit error.php
it replies with
Warning: unknown mime-type for "error.php" -- using "application/octet-stream"
Error: no "view" mailcap rules found for type "application/octet-stream"
Opening "error.php" with Geany (application/x-php)
__
The errors above are not related to the question. But instead of __ I see nothing. I know the prompt is there because I can issue other commands, like ls, and they work. But the question remains: WHY the prompt is hidden? And how can I make it show normally?
Why isn't this command returning to shell after &?
It is.
You're running a command in the background. The shell prints a new prompt as soon as the command is launched, without waiting for it to finish.
According to your latest comment, the background command is printing some message to your screen. A simple example of the same thing:
$ echo hello &
$ hello
The cursor is left at the beginning of the line after the $ hello.
As far as the shell is concerned, it's printed a prompt and is waiting a new command. It doesn't know or care that a background process has messed up your display.
One solution is to redirect the command's output to somewhere other than your screen, either to a file or to /dev/null. If it's an error message, you'll probably have to redirect both stdout and `stderr.
flock -nx "$1" xdg-open "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
(This assumes you don't care about the content of the message.)
Another option, pointed out in a comment by alvits, is to sleep for a second or so after executing the command, so the message appears followed by the next shell prompt. The sleep command is executed in the foreground, delaying the printing of the next prompt. A simple example:
$ echo hello & sleep 1
hello
[1] + Done echo hello
$
or for your example:
flock -nx "$1" xdg-open "$1" & sleep 1
This assumes that the error message is printed in the first second. That's probably a valid assumption for you example, but it might not be in general.
I don't think the command is doing what you think it does.
Have you tried to run it twice to see if the lock cannot be obtained the second time.
Well, if you do it, you will see that it doesn't fail because xdg-open is forking to exec the editor. Also if it fails you expect some indication.
You should use something like this
flock -nx "$1" -c "gedit '$1' &" || { echo "ERROR"; exit 1; }

How can I start an ssh session with a script without redirecting stdin?

I have a series of bash commands, some with interactive prompts, that I need run on a remote machine. I have to have them called in a certain order for different scenarios, so I've been trying to make a bash script to automate the process for me. However, it seems like every way to start an ssh session with a bash script results in the the redirection of stdin to whatever string or file was used to initiate the script in the first place.
Is there a way I can specify that a certain script be executed on a remote machine, but also forward stdin through ssh to the local machine to enable the user to interact with any prompts?
Here's a list of requirements I have to clarify what I'm trying to do.
Run a script on a remote machine.
Somewhere in the middle of that remote script be command that will prompt for input. Example: git commit will bring up vim.
If that command is git commit and it brings up vim, the user should be able to interact with vim as if it was running locally on their machine.
If that command prompts for a [y/n] response, the user should be able to input their answer.
After the user enters the necessary information—by quitting vim or pressing return on a prompt—the script should continue to run like normal.
My script will then terminate the ssh session. The end product is that commands were executed for the user without them needing to be aware that it was through a remote connection.
I've been testing various different methods with the following script that I want run on the remote machine.
#!/bin/bash
echo hello
vim
echo goodbye
exit
It's crucial that the user be able to use vim, and then, when the user finishes, "goodbye" should be printed to the screen and the remote session should be terminated.
I've tried uploading a temporary script to the remote machine and then running ssh user#host bash /tmp/myScript, but that seems to also take over stdin completely, rendering it impossible to let the user respond to prompts for user input. I've tried adding the -t and -T options (I'm not sure if they're different), but I still get the same result.
One commenter mentioned using expect, spawn, and interact, but I'm not sure how to use those tools together to get my desired behavior. It seems like interact will result in the user gaining control over stdin, but then there's no way to have it relinquished once the user quits vim in order to let my script continue execution.
Is my desired behavior even possible?
Ok, I think I've found my problem. I was creating a wrapper script for ssh that looked like this:
#!/bin/bash
tempScript="/tmp/myScript"
remote=user#host
commands=$(</dev/stdin)
cat <(echo "$commands") | ssh $remote "cat > $tempScript && chmod +x $tempScript" &&
ssh -t $remote $tempScript
errorCode=$?
ssh $remote << RM
if [[ -f $tempScript ]]; then
rm $tmpScript
fi
RM
exit $errorCode
It was there that I was redirecting stdin, not ssh. I should have mentioned this when I formulated my question. I read through that script over and over again, but I guess I just overlooked that one line. Removing that line totally fixed my problem.
Just to clarify, changing my script to the following totally fixed my problem.
#!/bin/bash
tempScript="/tmp/myScript"
remote=user#host
commands="$#"
cat <(echo "$commands") | ssh $remote "cat > $tempScript && chmod +x $tempScript" &&
ssh -t $remote $tempScript
errorCode=$?
ssh $remote << RM
if [[ -f $tempScript ]]; then
rm $tmpScript
fi
RM
exit $errorCode
Once I changed my wrapper script, my test script described in the question worked! I was able to print "hello" to the screen, vim appeared and I was able to use it like normal, and then once I quit vim "goodbye" was printed and the ssh client closed.
The commenters to the question were pointing me in the right direction the whole time. I'm sorry I only told part of my story.
I've searched for solutions to this problem several times in the past, however never finding a fully satisfactory one. Piping into ssh looses your interactivity. Two connects (scp/ssh) is slower, and your temporary file might be left lying around. And the whole script on the command line often ends up in escaping hell.
Recently I encountered that the command line buffer size is usually quite large (getconf ARG_MAX > 2MB where I looked). And this got me thinking about how I could use this and mitigate the escaping issue.
The result is:
ssh -t <host> /bin/bash "<(echo "$(cat my_script | base64 | tr -d "\n")" | base64 --decode)" <arg1> ...
or using a here document and cat:
ssh -t <host> /bin/bash $'<(cat<<_ | base64 --decode\n'$(cat my_script | base64)$'\n_\n)' <arg1> ...
I've expanded on this idea to produce a fully working BASH example script sshx that can run arbitrary scripts (not just BASH), where arguments can be local input files too, over ssh. See here.

bash script + rsync: bash won't sync to host?

I've only been writing actual .sh scripts since sometime this morning, and I'm a bit stuck. I'm trying to write a script to check to see if a process is running, and to start it if it isn't. (I plan to run this script once every 10 to 15 minutes with cron.)
Here's what I have so far:
#!/bin/bash
APPCHK=$(ps aux | grep -c "/usr/bin/rsync -rvz -e ssh /home/e-smith/files/ibays/drive-i/files/Warehouse\ Pics/organized_pics imgserv#192.168.0.140:~/webapps/pavlick_container/public/images
")
RUNSYNC=$(rsync -rvz -e ssh /home/e-smith/files/ibays/drive-i/files/Warehouse\ Pics/organized_pics imgserv#192.168.0.140:~/webapps/pavlick_container/public/images)
if [ $APPCHK < '2' ];
then
$RUNSYNC
fi
exit
Here's the error that I'm getting:
$ ./image_sync.sh
rsync: mkdir "/home/i/webapps/pavlick_container/public/images" failed: No such file or directory (2)
rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at main.c(595) [Receiver=3.0.7]
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (9 bytes received so far) [sender]
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(601) [sender=3.0.7]
./image_sync.sh: line 8: 2: No such file or directory
TRTWF is that
rsync -rvz -e ssh /home/e-smith/files/ibays/drive-i/files/Warehouse\ Pics/organized_pics imgserv#192.168.0.140:~/webapps/pavlick_container/public/images
runs just fine from a terminal window.
What am I doing wrong?
Your grep call is wrong on two counts. The pattern shouldn't include a newline. To look for an exact string, use grep -F 'substring' or grep -xF 'exact whole line'.
Finding if a process is running with ps | grep is highly brittle. On most unices (at least Solaris, Linux and *BSD), use pgrep: pgrep -f 'PATTERN' returns true if there's a running process whose command line matches PATTERN.
Every program returns a status code, either 0 to indicate success or a number between 1 and 255 to indicate failure. In the shell, any command is a valid boolean expression; the status code 0 is treated as true and anything else as false.
$(…) means run the command inside the parentheses and capture its output. So rsync is executed as soon as the shell hits the definition of the RUNSYNC variable. To store a block of shell code, use a function (example below, although you don't actually need a function here, you could just write the code directly).
Your test [ $APPCHK < 2 ] should be [ $APPCHK -lt 2 ]: < means input redirection. (In bash, you can also write [[ foo < bar ]], but that's string comparison, not numeric comparison.)
~/ at the beginning of the remote rsync path is optional. Also, -e ssh is the default unless your version of rsync is really old.
exit at the end of the script is useless, the script will exit anyway.
Here's a script taking the above into account:
#!/bin/bash
run_rsync () {
rsync -rvz '/home/e-smith/files/ibays/drive-i/files/Warehouse Pics/organized_pics' \
imgserv#192.168.0.140:webapps/pavlick_container/public/images
}
process_pattern='/usr/bin/rsync -rvz /home/e-smith/files/ibays/drive-i/files/Warehouse Pics/organized_pics imgserv#192\.168\.0\.140:webapps/pavlick_container/public/images'
if pgrep -xF "$process_pattern"; then
run_rsync
fi
Looks like with your rsync command that some directory along this path is wrong: ~/webapps/pavlick_container/public/images
Have you checked on the server 192.168.0.140 in imgserv's home directory to see if "pavlick_container/public" exists? That's my guess.
You have a number of problems. First you are running the commands instead of putting the commands in variables. There is also a much easier way.
RUNSYNC="rsync -rvz -e ssh /home/e-smith/files/ibays/drive-i/files/Warehouse\ Pics/organized_pics imgserv#192.168.0.140:~/webapps/pavlick_container/public/images"
if ! pgrep -f "rsync.*organized_pics"; then $RUNSYNC; fi
First of all, the way of checking if the program is running is mostly wrong. This may or may not work. You should rely on some special file you create when your script starts, that it is deleted when your script ends. This will tell you if the script is running, just checking if this file exists.
Then, try to either put a \ before the ~ or to remove the ~/ completely. If cron is run as other user, the tilde will be substituted in the client for the user directory. It works for the command line because maybe the home directory of your user in both machines match, but not in the user the cron is running. A guess at this point, but again, try to remove the ~/ and see if it works.
If your real code is missing a closing dlb-quote on the grep target, you're going to get weird results from the get-go.
Also, ps aux will not list a complete command line result like you show (at least on all the the pss I have used).
You need to make it ps auxwww. Often you will see people add | grep -v grep | (you'll see why at some point). This can be reduced to changing your static search target slightly like "/usr/bin/rsync" to "/usr/bin/[r]sync ".
Other users are also helping with their comments. Using a flag file as #DiegoSevilla mentions is marginally deprecated. use a mkdir /tmp/MyWatcher_flagDir for your flag. Directory creation is an atomic activity (where as file creations are not), and this will eliminate any errors you might encounter from having 2 copies of you monitor try to make a flag file at the same time. Only one process will succeed in making or removing a flag dir.
I hope this helps.

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