Re: [Uri-review] ssh URI

Paul Prescod <paul@prescod.net> Wed, 14 October 2009 14:36 UTC

Return-Path: <prescod@gmail.com>
X-Original-To: uri-review@core3.amsl.com
Delivered-To: uri-review@core3.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by core3.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C361C3A6A20 for <uri-review@core3.amsl.com>; Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:36:10 -0700 (PDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -1.977
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.977 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[BAYES_00=-2.599, FM_FORGED_GMAIL=0.622]
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([64.170.98.32]) by localhost (core3.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id CHWZS7PNQS8m for <uri-review@core3.amsl.com>; Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:36:10 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from mail-gx0-f212.google.com (mail-gx0-f212.google.com [209.85.217.212]) by core3.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id F312C3A6A1A for <uri-review@ietf.org>; Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:36:09 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by gxk4 with SMTP id 4so12012996gxk.8 for <uri-review@ietf.org>; Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:36:09 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:sender:received:in-reply-to :references:date:x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:from:to:cc :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=OYr6s7FBmLSP5jg20BijuZFF8CfzJCYTQ4vAeXy61CY=; b=kEdaNjnCUUfj+J/WxL0nnwmMsKazgba49ZvGM9nO+YUteiv5gI6P5aISh+79ZddUrC VffdxbCJ12J1gTHvHNxckyhx0dyISuQYPZiQIBmWucKqUrt8pFFGceY9uuOJkYyiXpqC 68TL7ge57YOEXBctD5vHJFIe27BuxZdQEQIlI=
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:date :x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; b=Zi941iJczm4V5Bxu7pSNtKTCCMzKONDqWf8XMWAN1syssN9yAsOnrunMa/otqsjQur 16O6f0/VCFfc2vH71hPLbOewNYLUQNfNqwoIHcd/q+FbP04+fmJblwlUw4QazR41MiWk jrQVA12k+ac6fEr9elInZRYBX0hmknYpWBQ2w=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Sender: prescod@gmail.com
Received: by 10.150.210.5 with SMTP id i5mr15067948ybg.174.1255530968909; Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:36:08 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <20091009160149.GB16908@braingia.org>
References: <20091009160149.GB16908@braingia.org>
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:36:08 -0700
X-Google-Sender-Auth: d26ef689ba9d419b
Message-ID: <1cb725390910140736p5d613b77s2ec13d2ee835cb8a@mail.gmail.com>
From: Paul Prescod <paul@prescod.net>
To: Steve Suehring <suehring@braingia.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Mailman-Approved-At: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:55:17 -0700
Cc: uri-review@ietf.org, uri@w3.org
Subject: Re: [Uri-review] ssh URI
X-BeenThere: uri-review@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
List-Id: Proposed URI Schemes <uri-review.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/uri-review>, <mailto:uri-review-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/uri-review>
List-Post: <mailto:uri-review@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:uri-review-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/uri-review>, <mailto:uri-review-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:36:10 -0000

On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Steve Suehring <suehring@braingia.org> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Attached is a draft to be submitted to the IETF for URI scheme related
> to secure shell (ssh).  The draft was originally included in the secsh
> Working Group which has since concluded.
> ...


>
> Please provide feedback as appropriate.

What does SFTP support GET and not PUT?

Is the syntax/protocol of directory listings standardized elsewhere?

What happens if I open a directory without the correct typecode? My
potentially naive impression is that the whole typecode thing adds
more complexity than value: it is easy to pipe the output into a tool
that does the right newline conversions.

What happen to scp URLs?

The assertion that the ssh URI scheme is designed to invoke an
interactive terminal session strikes me as expressing a user interface
decision, which URI schemes typically do not.

I would reword it this way:

The intended usage of the SSH URI is to declare the existence of an
SSH listener. This information could be used (for example) by a web
user agent to invoke an interactive SSH terminal program, or as input
to a script that would automate some action on the remote host."

It would be nice if a server could configure a list of "safe commands"
that it would accept as parameters. A future curl might allow this:

curl ssh://user@host.example.com?uptime > remote_uptime.txt
curl ssh://user@host.example.com?ifconfig > remote_config.txt

The server config might be as simple as a list of commands that are
whitelisted for use this way.

 Paul Prescod