Start the #SSH Agent on Linux

To start the SSH Agent in the background on Linux, run:

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

To start the SSH Agent automatically on login, add these lines to your ~/.bash_profile:

if [ -z "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK" ]; then

   # Check for a currently running instance of the agent

   RUNNING_AGENT="`ps -ax | grep 'ssh-agent -s' | grep -v grep | wc -l | tr -d '[:space:]'`"

   if [ "$RUNNING_AGENT" = "0" ]; then

        # Launch a new instance of the agent

        ssh-agent -s &> .ssh/ssh-agent

   fi

   eval `cat .ssh/ssh-agent`

fi