openssh: /opt/local/bin/ssh-agent not used

[ianstyxial]

On macOS 10.13.6 after (as root):

port install openssh
port load openssh

and then e.g, as user:

scp .... 

instead of /opt/local/bin/ssh-agent , the native /usr/bin/ssh-agent is still run. How to invoke macports /opt/local/bin/ssh-agent ?

[fhgwright (Fred Wright)]

It makes sense that the agent isn't automatically included in port load, but it would be useful if there were another port load target for it. I have a working setup for it here, though I haven't determined whether there's a way to duplicate the behavior of PATH, where the MacPorts version of a command is used if it's active, and the OS-supplied version otherwise.

I just made a modified version of the Apple LaunchAgent, as follows:

MacPro:~ fw$ diff /System/Library/LaunchAgents/org.openbsd.ssh-agent.plist /Library/LaunchAgents/org.macports.ssh-agent.plist 
6c6
< 	<string>org.openbsd.ssh-agent</string>
---
> 	<string>org.macports.ssh-agent</string>
9c9
< 		<string>/usr/bin/ssh-agent</string>
---
> 		<string>/opt/local/bin/ssh-agent</string>

With that, one just unloads the system version and loads the MacPorts version, though there's no automatic fallback if the MacPorts version is deactivated.

The separate target issue could probably be solved just by creating a dummy subport for the agent load.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Hopefully you are not actually using MacPorts 2.8.0 which was released in 2022 but are instead using the latest version 2.9.3. If port version does not show at least 2.9.3, please update to 2.9.3 by running sudo port selfupdate or downloading and running the installer from our web site.

A single port can have multiple launchd plists if needed.