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Dropbear SSH, a lightweight alternative to OpenSSH

librebyte.net

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Re: Dropbear SSH, a lightweight alternative to OpenSSH

#11

Post by adrianratnapala »

rl3 wrote: post #8

I use an ad-free, open-source Android app called SimpleSSHD that implements a Dropbear SSH server. Being able to SSH into your phone and wirelessly perform an incremental rsync backup of all your photos and data is life-changing compared to the hell that is cables and the MTP protocol. Thank you to all these projects for delivering me from the clutches of MTP, I am indebted.

A long time ago, when I tried something like that, I was stymied because the SSH server did not have permissions to write to any directory which the document readers etc. could see.

Is this sort of thing still a problem? How did you get around it?

Re: Dropbear SSH, a lightweight alternative to OpenSSH

#13

Post by rl3 »

adrianratnapala wrote: post #11
rl3 wrote: post #8

I use an ad-free, open-source Android app called SimpleSSHD that implements a Dropbear SSH server. Being able to SSH into your phone and wirelessly perform an incremental rsync backup of all your photos and data is life-changing compared to the hell that is cables and the MTP protocol. Thank you to all these projects for delivering me from the clutches of MTP, I am indebted.

A long time ago, when I tried something like that, I was stymied because the SSH server did not have permissions to write to any directory which the document readers etc. could see. Is this sort of thing still a problem? How did you get around it?

It was never an issue for me. Giving the SimpleSSHD docs a quick glance, the app itself does not operate as root, although its packaged subcomponents like rsync optionally can depending on what shell you point them to.

My phone isn't rooted. Everything in /storage/emulated/0 backs up without issue. Obviously not a full system backup, but all my data none the less.

With regards to write permission, I've only ever issued any writes to my image folders to prune photos or screenshots older than xx days that have already been backed up. On that note, freeing up 20GB of space instantly with a single command is incredibly satisfying (compared to the MTP hell alternative).

Re: Dropbear SSH, a lightweight alternative to OpenSSH

#15

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

jacob019 wrote: post #4

Often used with ARM, why is it never used by default on X86/X64 distros? I would think that the "lightweight" alternative would be lean and mean, kind of like Nginx vs Apache.

Not "default" per se, but Alpine Linux gives you the pick of openssh or dropbear when you install the system, and doesn't appear to have a preference which you use. If course, Alpine is borderline embedded, so not exactly a counterpoint.

Re: Dropbear SSH, a lightweight alternative to OpenSSH

#16

Post by CapacitorSet »

rl3 wrote: post #13
adrianratnapala wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago, when I tried something like that, I was stymied because the SSH server did not have permissions to write to any directory which the document readers etc. could see. Is this sort of thing still a problem? How did you get around it?

It was never an issue for me. Giving the SimpleSSHD docs a quick glance, the app itself does not operate as root, although its packaged subcomponents like rsync optionally can depending on what shell you point them to. My phone isn't rooted. Everything in /storage/emulated/0 backs up without issue. Obviously not a full system backup, but all my data none the less. With regards to write permission, I've only ever issu…

If you only need a shell, adb does that, as well as blazing fast file transfer (for the standards of MTP).

Re: Dropbear SSH, a lightweight alternative to OpenSSH

#19

Post by mkj »

ajross wrote: post #7
jacob019 wrote: post #4

Often used with ARM, why is it never used by default on X86/X64 distros? I would think that the "lightweight" alternative would be lean and mean, kind of like Nginx vs Apache.

Nginx won because it was faster, simpler and more easily extended, not because it was "lightweight" per se. In comparison, dropbear doesn't really do anything that ssh doesn't, and lags in a bunch of esoteric features that "most" people don't use but that inevitably some people do. Who wants to use a distro where one's preferred ssh-agent feature or X11 forwarding inexplicably doesn't work? Dropbear is small and buil…

Dropbear author here.

It used to have one unique feature, but OpenSSH has copied it now[0] :)

   dbclient host1,host2,user@host3
to onion-TCP-forward through a few hosts.

[0] https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/openssh-client/ssh.1.en....

Re: Dropbear SSH, a lightweight alternative to OpenSSH

#20

Post by chx »

ajross wrote: post #7
jacob019 wrote: post #4

Often used with ARM, why is it never used by default on X86/X64 distros? I would think that the "lightweight" alternative would be lean and mean, kind of like Nginx vs Apache.

Nginx won because it was faster, simpler and more easily extended, not because it was "lightweight" per se. In comparison, dropbear doesn't really do anything that ssh doesn't, and lags in a bunch of esoteric features that "most" people don't use but that inevitably some people do. Who wants to use a distro where one's preferred ssh-agent feature or X11 forwarding inexplicably doesn't work? Dropbear is small and buil…

Or the SOCKS proxy built into OpenSSHD...
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