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ssh:tldr:96b6d
The command eval $(ssh-agent)
is used to start an SSH agent and set the necessary environment variables in your current shell session.
An SSH agent is a program that manages your SSH keys and provides them to the SSH client when needed. It eliminates the need to re-enter your passphrase every time you want to connect to a remote server.
Breaking down the command:
ssh-agent
: This is the command that starts the SSH agent program.$(ssh-agent)
: This command substitution executes thessh-agent
command and captures its output, which includes setting certain environment variables.eval
: This command evaluates and executes the output of the command substitution in the current shell session.
By running eval $(ssh-agent)
, the SSH agent program will be started, and the necessary environment variables (SSH_AUTH_SOCK and SSH_AGENT_PID) will be set. These environment variables will be used by the SSH client to communicate with the SSH agent and manage your SSH keys.
After executing this command, you can add your private key to the agent using the ssh-add
command, allowing you to use it for secure SSH connections without entering the passphrase repeatedly.