SSH (backticks and absent command)

What article on docs.github.com is affected?

Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent

generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent.md

What part(s) of the article would you like to see updated?

Reduce the amount of provided OS specific information in the file.

Mac and Linux

$ eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
> Agent pid 59566

Windows (uses backticks)

The command could be the same as on the above OSes.

# start the ssh-agent in the background
$ eval `ssh-agent -s`
> Agent pid 59566

Adding your SSH key to the ssh-agent

For Linux and Windows another line could be added accessing a new kill_ssh_agent.md file.

4. {% data reusables.command_line.kill_ssh_agent %}

kill_ssh_agent.md (proposed)

Kill the current agent (given by the SSH_AGENT_PID environment variable).
```shell
$ eval "$(ssh-agent -k)"
> Agent pid 59566 killed
```

Here's the sole reference to killing the agent PID.

$ grep -nr ssh-agent content | grep kill
content/github/authenticating-to-github/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/working-with-ssh-key-passphrases.md:84:The `ssh-agent` process will continue to run until you log out, shut down your computer, or kill the process.
$ 

Perhaps the OS specific content regarding keychain could be hosted by the vendor and linked to.

---

"Working with SSH key passphrases"

working-with-ssh-key-passphrases.md

[Mac version of the page]
Saving your passphrase in the keychain

This content is perhaps dated.

[Windows version of the page]
Auto-launching ssh-agent on Git for Windows

Perhaps this content could be shifted to a Wiki page.

[welcome]

Thanks for opening this issue. A GitHub docs team member should be by to give feedback soon. In the meantime, please check out the contributing guidelines.

[janiceilene]

@fluesvamp Thanks for opening an issue! Please update your OP to use the issue template, this helps us to triage issues to the right folks.

Can you also clarify why you'd like to see the changes you're suggesting? Thank you!

@janiceilene

Auto-launching ssh-agent on Git for Windows

Perhaps this content could be shifted to a Wiki page.

The translations of the Windows version of this page are also affected by #6753.

English

<a href="#auto-launching-ssh-agent-on-git-for-windows">Auto-launching <code>ssh-agent</code> on Git for Windows</a>

<h3 id="auto-launching-ssh-agent-on-git-for-windows"><a href="#auto-launching-ssh-agent-on-git-for-windows">Auto-launching <code>ssh-agent</code> on Git for Windows</a></h3>

Japanese

<a href="#">Git for Windows で <code>ssh-agent</code> を自動的に起動する</a>

<h3 id=""><a href="#">Git for Windows で <code>ssh-agent</code> を自動的に起動する</a></h3>

I'm against this PR.

#6782 (comment)

Whichever of the eval commands is used I think it should be standardised across OSes.

$ man ssh-agent | perl -ne 'print if $. == 76 .. 82'
     There are two main ways to get an agent set up: The first is that the
     agent starts a new subcommand into which some environment variables are
     exported, eg ssh-agent xterm &.  The second is that the agent prints the
     needed shell commands (either sh(1) or csh(1) syntax can be generated)
     which can be evaluated in the calling shell, eg eval `ssh-agent -s` for
     Bourne-type shells such as sh(1) or ksh(1) and eval `ssh-agent -c` for
     csh(1) and derivatives.
$ 

The man page as one can see uses backticks.

[janiceilene]

Thanks for the update @fluesvamp! I'll triage this for the team to take a look 👀

[lecoursen]

Hi @fluesvamp, thanks for all of these ideas! Let's unify the command for starting the ssh-agent in "Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent" across OSes, as you suggest. However, we'll keep "Working with SSH key passphrases" as is.

Could you please provide a bit more explanation of your proposed new kill_ssh_agent.md file? Thanks!