Adding ssh-agent to a Chromebook Linux VM

I just got a Google Slate, largely because it can run Linux programs. By default, ssh-agent is not running when you open a terminal window. To add it, I created and enabled a systemd service for ssh-agent and I created the environment variable.

Create ~/.config/systemd/user/ssh-agent.service

[Unit]
Description=ssh-agent service

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=SSH_AUTH_SOCK=%t/ssh-agent.socket
ExecStart=/usr/bin/ssh-agent -D -a $SSH_AUTH_SOCK

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Enable the service by running this.

systemctl enable –user ssh-agent.service

Check that it starts properly.

artzemon@penguin:~$ systemctl start --user ssh-agent.service
artzemon@penguin:~$ systemctl status --user ssh-agent.service
● ssh-agent.service - ssh-agent service
   Loaded: loaded (/home/artzemon/.config/systemd/user/ssh-agent.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2018-12-05 13:31:46 UTC; 11min ago
 Main PID: 98 (ssh-agent)
   CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]/ssh-agent.service
           └─98 /usr/bin/ssh-agent -D -a /run/user/1000/ssh-agent.socket

Add this to ~/.profile to set the environment variable for the socket.

if [ -e $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/ssh-agent.socket ]; then
    export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/ssh-agent.socket
fi

Shut down the Linux VM by hovering over the terminal icon in the ChromeOS shelf, right-click, and choose “Shut Down Linux.”

ssh-agent will be running the next time you start the Linux VM.