Feature Request: Mosh support

[maxg]

Hello again,

I just wanted to chime in and say I'd be very pleased to see SecureCRT add Mosh (http://mosh.mit.edu) support. I travel a lot and end up on cellular or generally slow connections with high latency. This makes even the most basic tasks on SSH incredibly tedious and difficult.

I've been using Mosh on the command-line, as it's an out-of-the-box replacement for ssh (it runs both client and server-side), and it makes my life a lot easier. Other SSH clients have added Mosh support (such as the iOS client "iSSH") so I'm assuming (and I may be wrong) that it isn't too difficult to add a Mosh protocol with a slightly changed version of the SSH protocol.

Technical information here: http://mosh.mit.edu/#techinfo

Thanks!

[rtb]

Hi maxg,

Thanks for chiming in. We will post to this thread if support for MOSH is added to a future release of SecureCRT.

If you would like to be notified directly, please complete and submit the form at the following location:

Submit Feature Request

[maxg]

Hi again,

Has this been considered? I may be a minority I'm just curious if this has a remote chance of being added. It's such an amazingly useful protocol.

Thanks!

[Maureen]

Thanks for following up on this request. Support for mosh has been considered, but it's not currently on the product roadmap. I'll post a note here if it does get implemented.

Maureen

[dcornejo]

I also would love to see mosh support incorporated

It doesn't appear that the Windows version has it (and I don't have a Mac), but in the Linux version there's a local shell option which must invoke bash somehow - I was thinking that to generalize this and allow an user selectable external program instead of bash to handle the connection would be useful and allow easy extension of the connection protocols to whatever I wanted and could get a program for.

[mattdey]

+1 for mosh support

[bsdam]

+1 for Mosh support as well.

[fnord]

I, too, would love mosh support in SecureCRT. Being on the move and on the road a lot, using various connections of varying quality, it really is a lifesaver.

[inushi]

+1 me too.

Mosh's ability to deal with lossy or interrupted connections is becoming a must-have killer feature for me. I've been using SecureCRT for 15 years, and I'm about to drop it in favor of a mosh-enabled client.

I've enjoyed the years with SecureCRT - at its core it is a solid terminal emulator, and added around the core are lots of nice features. But these days I spend most of my time on a laptop moving from room to room, and mosh's ability to transparently reconnect without losing state is awesome.

• I used mosh for a day, and thought "that's cute, but is it really useful?"
• I used mosh for a week, and thought "actually yes, it's very nice that I can sleep and wake the computer and my terminal connection just keeps on working."
• I used mosh for a year, and thought "mosh is awesome, I love that it makes sleeping and waking my computer a zero-thought action. I love that it helps me deal with lossy wifi. It makes my life easier by making it so that I don't need to worry about things."

At this point I would give up SecureCRT with all its nice features in favor of a bare-bones emulator with a poor UI, just because the other one has Mosh support. (And today, I've done so.)

I love SecureCRT, but mosh support is more important to me.

[Maureen]

We would very much like to add mosh support to SecureCRT. Unfortunately, the license for it is GPL, which means that we would have to publicly release SecureCRT's source code. If MIT changes the licensing for mosh, we will definitely consider adding it.

Maureen

[inushi]

Thanks for the reply. For some reason I thought their license an easier one to work with, but I was confused and you're right: the license is GPL.

I happen to know the Mosh team, and I asked if they have advice for using Mosh in commercial products. The reply leaves room for optimism. I'll ask support@vandyke.com if they can get me in touch with you.

(Also, to clarify a point of possible confusion: Mosh was developed by MIT students and alumni on their personal time. Think of it as a student project, which has graduated. It started at MIT, but it is not run by MIT.)

Cheers,

[swatspyder]

This is a method for getting Mosh (https://mosh.mit.edu/) to work with SecureCRT on Ubuntu Linux

For a "NEW" session, follow these steps...

1. Select Protocol "Local Shell".
2. Create a session name such as "mailserver - FreeBSD - Mosh".
3. Right click on the new session and select "Properties".
4. In the left column, select the category "Logon Options" under "Connection".
5. Check the box that says "Automate Logon".
6. Delete "ogin:" and "assword:" from the list.
7. Click the "Add" button.
8. In the "Send" field, enter the following (modified how you need it):

   /usr/bin/mosh --server="mosh-server new -l LANG=en_US.UTF-8" --ssh="ssh -p [port #]" [username]@[IP ADDR]

9. Click OK to save that send action.
10. In the left column, select the category "Advanced" under "Terminal" > "Emulation".
11. Check the box for "Ignore window title change requests". <<-- This will make the tab show the session name that you created in the 2nd step above.
    *Optional: In the left column, select the category "Window" under "Terminal" > "Appearance".
    *Optional: Check the box for "Title bar" and enter a custom title you would like to appear in the tab for the session, which is different than the session name from the 2nd step above.

[Casey]

Originally Posted by swatspyder

[*]In the "Send" field, enter the following (modified how you need it):

/usr/bin/mosh --server="mosh-server new -l LANG=en_US.UTF-8" --ssh="ssh -p [port #]" [username]@[IP ADDR]

Interesting... it looks like your are just getting SecureCRT to execute the Mosh binary you previously installed.

So... where does one find themselves getting into the gray area when it comes to Licensing?

Could SecureCRT have a connection dialog that says 'Mosh' and within it, the users is asked for their Mosh directory (where they themselves previously installed Mosh) and all the other connection parameters? SecureCRT would then formulate the correct connection syntax behind the scenes and initiate a Mosh connection that way itself.

If the user is required to install Mosh themselves first, does that absolve SecureCRT of any licensing issues, or does adding hooks for it at all in your program put you into dangerous waters?

(Conveniently ignoring the possibility of Mosh changing syntax/code one day and completely breaking SecureCRT )

[swatspyder]

The developers should be able to talk with the devs of the project "JuiceSSH" for Android, on how they implemented it and got around the GPL.

Originally Posted by Casey

Interesting... it looks like your are just getting SecureCRT to execute the Mosh binary you previously installed.

So... where does one find themselves getting into the gray area when it comes to Licensing?

Could SecureCRT have a connection dialog that says 'Mosh' and within it, the users is asked for their Mosh directory (where they themselves previously installed Mosh) and all the other connection parameters? SecureCRT would then formulate the correct connection syntax behind the scenes and initiate a Mosh connection that way itself.

If the user is required to install Mosh themselves first, does that absolve SecureCRT of any licensing issues, or does adding hooks for it at all in your program put you into dangerous waters?

(Conveniently ignoring the possibility of Mosh changing syntax/code one day and completely breaking SecureCRT )

[Shaun]

I too would like mosh support added. If it cannot be added directly, perhaps VanDyke could add a hook to leverage an existing mosh install (cygwin?) similar to the Linux workaround idea. Failing that I may go the Linux VM route.

Update: I just noticed MobaXterm has mosh support (as of v7.1). It's a cygwin-based solution. I'll use MobaXterm for mosh until SecureCRT gets support added. For those wondering, there is a native windows port of mosh (https://github.com/micolous/mosh-win), but it is not optimized. Keep an eye on this thread: https://github.com/keithw/mosh/issues/293