@@ -85,3 +85,22 @@ argument, like so:: env.shell = "/bin/sh -c" This has been shown to work on FreeBSD and may work on other systems as well. + + +4. I'm sometimes incorrectly asked for a passphrase instead of a password. +========================================================================== + +Due to a bug of sorts in our SSH layer (Paramiko), it's not currently possible +for Fabric to always accurately detect the type of authentication needed. We +have to try and guess whether we're being asked for a private key passphrase or +a remote server password, and in some cases our guess ends up being wrong. + +The most common such situation is where you, the local user, appear to have an +SSH keychain agent running, but the remote server is not able to honor your SSH +key, e.g. you haven't yet transferred the public key over or are using an +incorrect username. In this situation, Fabric will prompt you with "Please +enter passphrase for private key", but the text you enter is actually being +sent to the remote end's password authentication. + +We hope to address this in future releases, either by doing heavier +introspection of Paramiko or patching Paramiko itself. FAQ 20e558f77844dd29ceacf2fb0e06f966e270222b Jeff Forcier jeff@bitprophet.org http://github.com/bitprophet/fabric/commit/2b9bbc8db9346dcdf6ff81cc6c7c0185957b1237 2b9bbc8db9346dcdf6ff81cc6c7c0185957b1237 2009-10-25T20:08:03-07:00 2009-10-25T20:07:51-07:00 Add FAQ question re: passphrase/password prompt 7126c09c954082ec75d780db1086ac1d0e9d1119 Jeff Forcier jeff@bitprophet.org