Automic VaultAutomic Vault

brew

Install autossh with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels. Version 1.4g via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install autossh

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install autossh

MacPorts ports tree · net/autossh/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Alpine Linux apkverified · 92%
sudo apk add autossh

Alpine Linux edge package indexes · autossh · source: dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org

Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install autossh

Debian stable package indexes · autossh · source: deb.debian.org

Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install autossh

Fedora Rawhide package metadata · autossh · source: dl.fedoraproject.org

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#autossh

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/au/autossh/package.nix · source: api.github.com

Arch Linux pacmanverified · 92%
sudo pacman -S autossh

Arch Linux sync databases · autossh · source: geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com

openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install autossh

openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · autossh · source: download.opensuse.org

Windows

Scoopverified · 92%
scoop install main/autossh

Scoop official bucket manifest trees · bucket/autossh.json · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels

Commands and aliases

  • autossh
  • rscreen

history

Project history and usage

autossh is a small C utility that starts ssh, monitors the connection, and restarts it when the session dies or stops passing traffic. It became a standard package-manager tool for keeping SSH tunnels alive without writing a custom supervisor loop.

Project history

The official README traces autossh's idea to rstunnel, Reliable SSH Tunnel. Early autossh releases changed the monitoring mechanism from the original rstunnel-style idea to a loop of SSH forwardings and later added support for a remote echo service.

The CHANGES file records version 1.1 as the initial release, then shows the program growing through practical tunnel-management fixes: startup gate handling, monitor-port behavior, signal handling, backgrounding, pid files, autoconf support, and compatibility with OpenSSH option changes.

Adoption history

autossh spread through Unix package systems because it solves an operationally boring but persistent problem: keeping reverse tunnels, long-lived forwards, and remote sessions running. The official page notes availability in OpenBSD and FreeBSD ports, Cygwin, and some Linux distributions; the input records packages across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Alpine, Arch, MacPorts, Nix, Scoop, and zypper ecosystems.

How it is used

The normal invocation is `autossh -M port[:echo_port] [ssh options]`. autossh owns only a few flags, notably the monitor port, foreground/background behavior, and version output; most arguments are passed through to ssh.

For modern OpenSSH, the README documents `-M 0` to disable monitor ports and rely on SSH exit behavior, often paired with `ServerAliveInterval`, `ServerAliveCountMax`, and `ExitOnForwardFailure`. This is why autossh is common in init scripts, launch agents, simple service units, and admin one-liners.

Why package nerds care

autossh is the sort of tiny package that persists because it does exactly one sysadmin job and has almost no policy surface. Package maintainers care about it because it sits at the intersection of OpenSSH option churn, daemon supervision, legacy Unix platforms, and service startup semantics.

Timeline

  • Version 1.1: Initial release recorded in upstream CHANGES.
  • Version 1.2: Major restructuring added looped forwarded ports for connection tests and backoff after rapid failures.
  • Version 1.3: Remote echo-service monitoring and SIGUSR1 restart behavior added.
  • Version 1.4: Basic GNU autoconf support and pid-file support added.
  • 2019: Version 1.4g update noted on the official homepage.

Related projects

  • OpenSSH: autossh supervises the ssh client and passes through most options.
  • rstunnel: upstream credits it as the original idea.
  • screen: upstream mentions use with screen for persistent sessions.

security posture

Risk level: blue

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

Risk classifier

blue risk · medium confidence · tool

Why

  • broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

Signals

  • text:ssh

Install behavior

  • No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
  • Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 13 platform targets.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

CommandKindExposureNote
autosshcliglobal executable
rscreencliglobal executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08
manager version1.4g
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

  • infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
  • infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:autossh
Version1.4g
Package managerHomebrew
Package manager pagehttps://formulae.brew.sh/formula/autossh
Homepagehttps://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/
Upstream docshttps://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh
LicenseBSD-1-Clause
Source archivehttps://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/autossh-1.4g.tgz
Bottleavailable (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, catalina, monterey, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-installnot defined
Servicenone declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source DatabaseHomebrew formula API
Taphomebrew/core
Full Nameautossh
Version Scheme0
Revision0
Bottle Stable Root URLhttps://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecatedno
Disabledno
Keg Onlyno
URL Keys
  • stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Debian apt95%

autossh 1.4g-1+b1

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

sudo apt install autossh
  • Section: net
  • Architecture: amd64
  • Source Package: autossh
  • 3 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
Debian stable package indexes · deb.debian.org · Debian stable package indexes: autossh from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz
Nix95%

autossh

nix profile install nixpkgs#autossh
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/au/autossh/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
Ubuntu apt95%

autossh 1.4g-1

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

sudo apt install autossh
  • Section: universe/net
  • Architecture: amd64
  • 3 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes · archive.ubuntu.com · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: autossh from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
apk95%

autossh 1.4g-r3

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

sudo apk add autossh
  • License: MIT
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: autossh
  • 1 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: autossh from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
apk95%

autossh-doc 1.4g-r3

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels (documentation)

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

sudo apk add autossh-doc
  • License: MIT
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: autossh
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
Alpine Linux edge package indexes · dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org · Alpine Linux edge package indexes: autossh-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
dnf95%

autossh 1.4g-21.fc44

Utility to autorestart SSH tunnels

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

sudo dnf install autossh
  • License: LicenseRef-Callaway-BSD
  • Category: Unspecified
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: autossh
  • 6 dependencies
  • 3 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
Fedora Rawhide package metadata · dl.fedoraproject.org · Fedora Rawhide package metadata: autossh from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst
pacman95%

autossh 1.4g-4

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

sudo pacman -S autossh
  • License: custom
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • 2 dependencies
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
Arch Linux sync databases · geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com · Arch Linux sync databases: autossh from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz
zypper95%

autossh 1.4g-2.23

Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels

https://www.harding.motd.ca/autossh/

sudo zypper install autossh
  • License: BSD-3-Clause
  • Category: Productivity/Networking/SSH
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Source Package: autossh
  • 3 dependencies
  • 1 provides
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · download.opensuse.org · openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: autossh from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst
MacPorts95%

autossh

sudo port install autossh
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: net/autossh/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
Scoop95%

main/autossh

scoop install main/autossh
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Autossh
Scoop official bucket manifest trees · api.github.com · Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/autossh.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

Same workflow

  • boringShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, ssh, tunnel, tunneling.
  • rospoShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, ssh, tunneling.
  • corkscrewShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, ssh, tunneling.
  • dns2tcpShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, tunnel, tunneling.
  • proxytunnelShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, ssh, tunnel, tunneling.
  • udp2raw-multiplatformShares av.db curated category or tags: cli, networking, tunnel, tunneling.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Used sources

  • Geiger risk classifier
  • Nucleus package database
  • av.db category and tag curation
  • cross-ecosystem install command graph
  • curated package history
  • external package-manager database matches
  • package relationship graph
  • package version freshness
  • package-page enrichment