.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBmonkeysphere-ssh-proxy\fP is an ssh proxy command that can be used
-to trigger a monkeysphere update of the known_hosts file for the hosts
-that are being connected to. It is meant to be run as an ssh
-ProxyCommand. This can either be done by specifying the proxy command
-on the command line:
+to trigger a monkeysphere update of the ssh known_hosts file for a
+host that is being connected to with ssh. This works by updating the
+known_hosts file for the host first, before an attempted connection to
+the host is made. Once the known_hosts file has been updated, a TCP
+connection to the host is made by exec'ing netcat(1). Regular ssh
+communication is then done over this netcat TCP connection (see
+ProxyCommand in ssh_config(5) for more info).
+
+This command is meant to be run as the ssh "ProxyCommand". This can
+either be done by specifying the proxy command on the command line:
.B ssh -o ProxyCommand="monkeysphere-ssh-proxycommand %h %p" ...
.B ProxyCommand monkeysphere-ssh-proxycommand %h %p
The script can easily be incorporated into other ProxyCommand scripts
-by calling it with the "--no-connect" option, ie:
+by calling it with the "--no-connect" option, i.e.:
.B monkeysphere-ssh-proxycommand --no-connect "$HOST" "$PORT"
-This will run everything but will not exec netcat to make the tcp
-connection to the host.
+This will run everything except the final exec of netcat to make the
+TCP connection to the host. In this way this command can be added to
+another proxy command that does other stuff, and then makes the
+connection to the host itself.
.SH KEYSERVER CHECKING
The proxy command has a fairly nuanced policy for when keyservers are
-queried when processing host. If the host userID is not found in
+queried when processing a host. If the host userID is not found in
either the user's keyring or in the known_hosts file, then the
keyserver is queried for the host userID. If the host userID is found
-in the user's keyring, then the keyserver is not checked. This is
-because... If the host userID is not found in the user's keyring, but
-the host is listed in the known_hosts file, then defered check is
-scheduled.
+in the user's keyring, then the keyserver is not checked. This
+assumes that the keyring is kept up-to-date, in a cronjob or the like,
+so that revocations are properly handled. If the host userID is not
+found in the user's keyring, but the host is listed in the known_hosts
+file, then the keyserver is not checked. This last policy might
+change in the future, possibly by adding a deferred check, so that
+hosts that go from non-monkeysphere-enabled to monkeysphere-enabled
+will be properly checked.
.SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
+All environment variables defined in monkeysphere(1) can also be used
+for the proxy command, with one note:
+
.TP
-KEYSERVER The keyserver to query.
+MONKEYSPHERE_CHECK_KEYSERVER
+Setting this variable (to `true' or `false') will override the policy
+defined in KEYSERVER CHECKING above.
.SH AUTHOR
.SH SEE ALSO
-.BR monkeypshere (1),
+.BR monkeysphere (1),
+.BR monkeysphere (7),
.BR ssh (1),
+.BR ssh_config (5),
+.BR netcat (1),
.BR gpg (1)