BBSSH alpha download available
by Marc on Feb.28, 2010, under Projects
BBSSH 1.1.3 is now available for download. This should work with any device running BB OS 4.6 or higher. Here are some features from this alpha release:
- Public/private keypair import is now working. Imported keys can be used for authentication. In order to be loaded, private keys must be stored at a non-password protected http/https location, in OpenSSH format. (A wider range of import methods will be coming soon.)
- URL scraper – this will scrape phone numbers, email addresses, and web sites and display them a in list. The context menu will give appropriate actions for each type of entry.
- Multiple concurrent connections, with quick-switch between connections.
- Integration with Blackberry notifications and alerts – you can set your alert preferences via the BB Profile settings
There is still plenty of work to be done, but this version has replaced MidpSSH as my day-to-day client. Though some functionality is missing (namely macros and a subset of the special keystrokes), I have found it to be very stable.
Grab the latest version now OTA from the sourceforge.net project site:
Default Keybindings (these will be configurable and viewable in-app in the near future):
- SYM - control key: The next key you press will be combined with the CTRL key. For example: pressing SYM , then “c” will send “CTRL+c”
- Volume Up: Show input window overlay
- Volume Down: send Tab key
- Left-side convenience key: send ESC key
- Alt+Left-side convenience key: display the URL scraper
- Right-side convenience key: show popup menu of active session, allowing you to quickly switch between them.
- Directional roller: send arrow keys
- Alt+Direction Up/Down: Page Up/Dn
- Alt+Direction Left/Right: Home/End
- Shift+Navbutton: Paste
- Ctrl+Navbutton: Copy current terminal contents to clipboard.
- Top button (Mute/Suspend): Toggle between Hybrid and Direct Input modes.
Give it a try, and let me know of any issues.
March 2nd, 2010 on 4:51 pm
Hello
Working in bold 9700?
March 2nd, 2010 on 5:00 pm
Kamil – I have tested BB Bold 9000 running 4.6 and 5.0 , but have not tested on 4.7. I do expect it will work without any issues – but your help in validating that would be appreciated
March 2nd, 2010 on 7:31 pm
works great on my Tour9630 (OS 5.*). VERY nice improvement over Midpssh’s outdated client!!! thanks for all the hard work Marc.
However, when I import an existing ssh key WITHOUT a passphrase associated with it, i still have to enter the PAM password associated with that account in my profile.
Will there be a way I can just authenticate through pubkey only (so no password would be needed anywhere, besides just using the pubkey)?
-John
March 3rd, 2010 on 7:53 am
Hello
I have OS v5.0.0.351 (Platforma 5.1.0.98) and I not import *.jar file in BB SW in my PC.
Error in compatibility system with my BB and aplication.
I shall be happy to help in validating
March 3rd, 2010 on 8:25 am
I have install and works.
I would be happy to help validating
March 3rd, 2010 on 12:24 pm
Kamil, that’s great news — thanks for your help.
John,
Thanks for the feedback. Strangely, that use case does work for me – at least I remembered validating it, but I’ll double-check tonight. Just to confirm, are you able to connect using the same key via Putty or openssh without any issues?
March 3rd, 2010 on 1:57 pm
Hello,
I have a Bold 9700 and cannot get this to work so far.
I get the following message :
Notice: I/O operation attempted on closed stream/connection.
My 9700 is connected on Bell Canada’s network to a BES server.
When I click OK, I get a session report with the byte count for that session.
It does resolve my server – the message appears during the negotiation.
Let me know if I can provide more info or be of assistance.
– Steve
March 3rd, 2010 on 2:58 pm
Hello, Thank You for reply.
I have got Putty key. But I have the key with pass phrase and I have to public it first in http server.
And after this I can test connection to the servers.
March 3rd, 2010 on 3:12 pm
@Steven – Thanks for letting me know. I have neglected BES testing after my early days on the project, an oversight on my part. I will take a look tonight and get back to you.
@Kamil – thanks for posting back. The question about public key was actually for John, as I’m trying to find more information about the issue he’s having.
March 4th, 2010 on 12:20 am
Awesome! midpssh had gone so long without updates. Working ok on my storm 9530
March 4th, 2010 on 12:23 am
@Mike – excellent, glad to hear it; might want to double-check to make sure that you have 1.1.4 as I just posted it tonight.
Could you let me know how it behaves when changing orientation? The simulator proved OK, but I’m a bit concerned that the fact that there’s no way to “lock” it into given orientation might make it annoying to use.
March 4th, 2010 on 12:44 am
Will test…..any idea what the SYM key is on the storm?
March 4th, 2010 on 1:01 am
Mike – hmm, that was an oversight
It looks like the SYM button (which appears on the softkey pad in landscape and portrait mode) can’t be captured for CTRL key behavior on the Storm.
In the next update I expect to have key-bindings properly configurable — your best (assuming you need to the CTRL key) is to hold off until that build is finished. That will let you bind CTRL to something more usable on the Storm.
March 4th, 2010 on 1:26 am
It seems to be switching orientation fine.
March 4th, 2010 on 11:42 am
When I type my login password, it isn’t masked, it is clear text in the configuration screen! That looks a major oversight to me!
I am not going to leave my website’s SSH password exposed like that, so I:
- edit the connection and add password;
- connect;
- after the session, delete the password.
That is really annoying. The password should be masked. Even the number of characters should not be made clear (one asterisk per character).
Apart from that, great app!
March 4th, 2010 on 11:57 am
@Luc
Good point. Personally I prefer to view the password while I type it – especially on a small keyboard where mistakes are more likely to happen. Perhaps the answer here is to allow cleartext entry, but to mask the display of the password after it has been entered?
Until that’s done, you can clear the password from the field — you will get prompted for it at login time, assuming that you have “keyboard-interactive” enabled on your SSH server.
Something else you might want to look into for convenience and security is public key authentication. This would allow you to disable password-based authentication entirely on your servers, closing off brute-force dictionary attacks. Using this method, no password need be stored save (optionally) the one to locally decrypt your private key.
March 4th, 2010 on 12:27 pm
There is no mention of keyboard-interactive in my sshd_config file. But when I log in with a blank password, it says:
Start keyboard-interactive
Authentication failed.
Available methods are: publickey,password,keyboard-interactive
And that’s it. I can’t do anything else. Is that the correct/expected behavior?
March 11th, 2010 on 2:03 pm
Runs in compatibility mode on Storm.
Couldn’t get it work
March 11th, 2010 on 2:22 pm
MB – could you provide some more detail? I have had reports from some users that Storm is working OK, so the more specific information you can provide, the easier it will be form me to look into it (especially since I don’t have a Storm device myself)
April 1st, 2010 on 5:33 pm
Marc,
How do I import private/public putty keys ?
Earlier posts mention http/https server(s) location ?
I run version 1.1.60 on BB tour.
bbssh import screen shows:
name:
location:
passphrase:
I’ve got ppk typ key in BB folder (/media device/blackberry
thx in advance
Peter J.
April 1st, 2010 on 10:23 pm
@Peter – there’s a two step process. You *will* need a place to put the key file where you can reach it via HTTP. (Dropbox is a good option for that) Perhaps needless to say, make sure that you have a passphrase associated in the unlikely event that someone comes across it. I am looking to add support for importing from SD card and via desktop sync in 1.1.8 and 1.1.9 respectively.
Anyway – for putty keys, you will need to first open puttygen.exe and open yoru key with it. Then go to Conversions -> Export Key -> Export OpenSSH key.
That exported file is what you can import into BBSSH.
April 13th, 2010 on 1:19 pm
Hi Marc, thanks for all your work. Myself and a couple of colleagues at work are looking to hop over to BBSSH from Midp, but we’re all having the same grief with key imports.
We’ve created new keys using ssh-keygen -t rsa. For the sake of argument, say we now have two files – bbssh and bbssh.pub
We’ve hosted those files as world-readable on an HTTP share at work. We’ve confirmed the files are accessible via browser from our RIMs.
We then attempt to import the keys using BBSSH and things go sideways.
We use the following (server address changed to protect the innocent)
Name: bbssh
Location: http://httpserver.us.com/team/bbsshkeys/bbssh
Passphrase:
Now, whatever we do, we get an error saying “An error occurred while importing the key-pair. Please check that the location is valid. Critical tunnel failure”
Now, on the assumption that maybe we’re not specifying the location correctly we’ve tried changing location to each of:
http://httpserver.us.com/team/bbsshkeys/bbssh.pub
http://httpserver.us.com/team/bbsshkeys/bbssh
http://httpserver.us.com/team/bbsshkeys/
http://httpserver.us.com/team/bbsshkeys
http://httpserver/team/bbsshkeys/bbssh.pub
http://httpserver/team/bbsshkeys/bbssh
http://httpserver/team/bbsshkeys/
http://httpserver/team/bbsshkeys
We’ve also tried removing the http:// prefix, but then it errors complaining there’s no “:” in the URL.
It hasn’t excaped my notice that BBSSH keeps referring to a keypair. What exactly is it trying to find? In my mind’s eye I see it wanting the private key, but is it looking for some sort of consolidated public+private key, something I’m not aware of maybe?
April 13th, 2010 on 1:23 pm
Let me take a look tonight. The first usage, wherein you provided the private key path, should be correct.
The tunnel failure is what concerns me, and indicates it’s probably not related to the path at all. Are you using BES?
April 13th, 2010 on 1:51 pm
Thanks again of course.
Yes, we are using BES, and from what I understand the policies are rather restrictive. I tested that the BB browser could get to the keys hoping that was a viable connection test, but then I’m not up on the internals of BES so it may be treated differently than BBSSH even pushing the same protocol.
I sure hope not though.
Worst case, now you’ve confirmed the location syntax for me, I’ll host keys on a public (or at least not internal to corporate network) http and see if I can pull them off a home box instead.
Best regards
June 25th, 2010 on 12:08 pm
I have a question similar to Luc. The sshd that I am signing on to does not have password auth enabled. My only available method is PublicKey and this is reported as such. When I try to sign on I get:
Requesting authentication
Sent Public Key: RSA.
Sent password
Start keyboard-interactive
Authentication failed.
Available methods are: publickey
Authentication failed.
Available methods are: publickey
Authentication failed.
Available methods are: publickey
Authentication failed.
Available methods are: publickey
So my question is. Is there a way to disable sending the password at all?
June 30th, 2010 on 3:19 am
What’s happening here is that the server isn’t accepting the RSA key provided; so it will next attempt to send password, then (since that’s not allowed) it willa ttempt kbd-interactive.
While bbssh shouldn’t be attempting unsupported auth methods (I’ll open a JIRA for that), correcting this won’t let you log in — as it’s the rejected key that is preventing the login.