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C

Start a Remote Shell with QuickShell

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Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.QuickShell method, which starts a remote shell using the simplified sequence OpenSessionChannelSendReqPtySendReqShell. It takes no arguments and returns the shell channel number, or -1 on failure. The default PTY size is 80 columns by 24 rows.

Background: Note that QuickShell does allocate a PTY, so unlike a bare SendReqShell the remote shell runs interactively: it prints a command prompt, echoes the commands you send, and runs interactive login scripts. That is convenient for terminal-style work but means the output contains prompts and echoed input that scripted parsing must tolerate. The method returns as soon as the shell request is accepted — it does not consume the initial login text or prompt, so read and discard that before relying on command output.

Chilkat C Downloads

C
#include <C_CkSsh.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    BOOL success;
    HCkSsh ssh;
    int sshPort;
    const char *password;
    int channelNum;
    BOOL caseSensitive;
    const char *output;

    success = FALSE;

    //  Demonstrates the Ssh.QuickShell method, which starts a remote shell using the simplified
    //  sequence OpenSessionChannel, SendReqPty, and SendReqShell.  It takes no arguments and returns
    //  the shell channel number, or -1 on failure.  The default PTY size is 80 columns by 24 rows.

    ssh = CkSsh_Create();

    sshPort = 22;
    success = CkSsh_Connect(ssh,"ssh.example.com",sshPort);
    if (success == FALSE) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    //  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
    //  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
    password = "mySshPassword";

    success = CkSsh_AuthenticatePw(ssh,"mySshLogin",password);
    if (success == FALSE) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    //  Start the shell.  Note that QuickShell allocates a PTY, so the remote shell runs
    //  interactively: it prints a command prompt and echoes the commands that are sent to it.
    channelNum = CkSsh_QuickShell(ssh);
    if (channelNum < 0) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    //  QuickShell returns as soon as the shell request is accepted -- it does not wait for or
    //  consume the initial login text or prompt.
    success = CkSsh_ChannelSendString(ssh,channelNum,"uname -a; echo DONE_MARKER\n","utf-8");
    if (success == FALSE) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    //  IMPORTANT: Set a read timeout before receiving until a match.  ReadTimeoutMs defaults to 0,
    //  which means no limit -- without it, this call waits forever if the received data never
    //  contains a match.
    CkSsh_putReadTimeoutMs(ssh,15000);

    caseSensitive = FALSE;
    success = CkSsh_ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(ssh,channelNum,"DONE_MARKER","utf-8",caseSensitive);
    if (success == FALSE) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    output = CkSsh_getReceivedText(ssh,channelNum,"utf-8");
    if (CkSsh_getLastMethodSuccess(ssh) == FALSE) {
        printf("%s\n",CkSsh_lastErrorText(ssh));
        CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);
        return;
    }

    printf("%s\n",output);

    CkSsh_Disconnect(ssh);


    CkSsh_Dispose(ssh);

    }