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Get the Exit Status of a Remote SSH Command

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Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.GetChannelExitStatus method, which returns the remote process exit status for a channel. The only argument is the channel number. Call it only after ChannelReceivedExitStatus returns true.

Background: The exit status is how you learn whether a remote command actually succeeded — recall that a successful exec request only means the request was accepted. By Unix convention 0 means success and any nonzero value indicates a failure. Retrieve it promptly after the receive operation and before calling unrelated SSH methods or releasing the channel, since the completed channel record can be discarded.

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Dim success As Boolean
success = False

//  Demonstrates the Ssh.GetChannelExitStatus method, which returns the remote process exit
//  status for a channel.  The only argument is the channel number.  Call it only after
//  ChannelReceivedExitStatus returns 1.

Dim ssh As New Chilkat.Ssh

Dim sshPort As Int32
sshPort = 22
success = ssh.Connect("ssh.example.com",sshPort)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(ssh.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

//  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.
Dim password As String
password = "mySshPassword"

success = ssh.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(ssh.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

Dim channelNum As Int32
channelNum = ssh.OpenSessionChannel()
If (channelNum < 0) Then
    System.DebugLog(ssh.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

success = ssh.SendReqExec(channelNum,"grep -q root /etc/passwd")
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(ssh.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

//  IMPORTANT: Set a read timeout.  ReadTimeoutMs defaults to 0, which means no limit -- without
//  it, this call waits forever if the server never sends channel close.
ssh.ReadTimeoutMs = 15000

success = ssh.ChannelReceiveToClose(channelNum)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(ssh.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

//  Retrieve the exit status immediately, before calling unrelated SSH methods or releasing the
//  channel, because the completed channel record can be discarded.
If (ssh.ChannelReceivedExitStatus(channelNum)) Then
    Dim exitStatus As Int32
    exitStatus = ssh.GetChannelExitStatus(channelNum)
    System.DebugLog("Exit status: " + Str(exitStatus))

    //  By convention, 0 means the remote command succeeded.
    If (exitStatus = 0) Then
        System.DebugLog("The remote command succeeded.")
    Else
        System.DebugLog("The remote command reported a failure.")
    End If

End If

ssh.Disconnect