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If TN5250 why not Terminal/ssh?

jaseone said:
If a developer can write a TN5250 emulator using the SDK and have it approved for the app store then what is preventing a similar app being developed so we can SSH on to servers emulating the appropriate terminal (3270?)?

EDIT: Forgot the link to the app - http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284741179&mt=8
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patience young padawan, assuming that a ssh app won't be in violation of the sdk or anything, then i'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone comes out with one
 
I emailed MochaSoft (the people that make TN5250) and here is my email:

I noticed you released a TN5250 client for the iphone and had an ssh
client available for other platforms. I was wondering if you were
planning on releasing an ssh client for the iphone.

An ssh client for the iphone would be of great use to me and I would
happily buy one for a reasonable cost.​

And the response

We have a pre-beta version SSH/Telnet, but there is an issue
with US export regulations and 128 bit encryption.

If we find a solution to this issue, we will continue with the Telnet/SSH
project. Otherwise we may later just release a Telnet only product

At the moment we are waiting on Apple, to give a reply.


jan f - mochasoft support​

In order to export strong encryption (used by ssh) the software must be either open source (against apple's sdk) or have a technical review with BXA and NSA. See here for more info: http://www.debian.org/legal/cryptoinmain
 
jwflutterby said:
no kidding! how many people still use AS/400's ??
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It's not a case of 'still'. The AS/400 is still selling under the name of iSeries. It's probably the most common midrange computing platform for enterprise computing.

I must admit though. I got excited when I saw the app in the hope it supported SSH. :(
 
queenmaryo said:
In order to export strong encryption (used by ssh) the software must be either open source (against apple's sdk) or have a technical review with BXA and NSA. See here for more info: http://www.debian.org/legal/cryptoinmain
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Not all Open Source licenses are incompatible with Apple's SDK license. My random guess (but IANAL) is that a BSD, MIT or Apple's very own Open Source license would be quite compatible with the SDK's. GPL v3, probably not.
 
About OpenSSH being against Apples SDK

But apple itself uses OpenSSH v4.7p1 on my OSX 10.5.4 macbook. :confused:
 
Not all Open Source licenses are incompatible with Apple's SDK license.
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The ssh issue really has nothing to do with the GPL and all to do with apple not wanting any of their SDK open. There are two 'issues' with license compatibility...

1) A GPL'd piece of software can't go into the apple store because it will no longer follow the GPL. This is a restriction based on the GPL. The GPL is 'viral' and everything that uses something that has history with the GPL must be GPL'd. This is not compatible with the Apple store because the source will include apple SDK stuff and apple won't let that touch the GPL.

2) A less restrictive open source license that allows derivative products to not follow the same license in its entirety can result in software in the apple store. The problem is these products can not be fully open source because apple doesn't want any of the SDK stuff opened up. So these products no longer fall under the open source crypto export rules.
 
canadacow said:
I have an SSH app in the works. Should be out shortly.

http://www.zinger-soft.com/
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I need this app really bad. How are you getting past the GPL issues with the OpenSSH libs?

I am also curious how this works with the SDK not allowing background apps to run. Since SSH is statefull, when you get a call and the app closes, this would kill the session, unless you have found a way around this.

Also, I volunteer if you need a beta tester :)
 
queenmaryo said:
The ssh issue really has nothing to do with the GPL and all to do with apple not wanting any of their SDK open. There are two 'issues' with license compatibility...

1) A GPL'd piece of software can't go into the apple store because it will no longer follow the GPL. This is a restriction based on the GPL. The GPL is 'viral' and everything that uses something that has history with the GPL must be GPL'd. This is not compatible with the Apple store because the source will include apple SDK stuff and apple won't let that touch the GPL.
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Actually Apple's SDK does have OSS code in it, it uses a modified version of GCC.

I'm not sure about this, but I think you could release an LGPL app on the app store. Not sure if that would be against that stupid NDA.
 
bit_bucket said:
I am also curious how this works with the SDK not allowing background apps to run. Since SSH is statefull, when you get a call and the app closes, this would kill the session, unless you have found a way around this.

Also, I volunteer if you need a beta tester :)
Click to expand...

For the moment, I don't care if the connection is lost if a call comes in or if you press the home button. For emergency ssh work that is acceptable.

Would be nice to test this application. Example screens look good!
 
bit_bucket said:
Since SSH is statefull, when you get a call and the app closes, this would kill the session, unless you have found a way around this.
Click to expand...

This is why I've become a huge fan of screen...

'ssh -t user@host screen -x'

canadacow: will this work correctly with your ssh implementation?
 
queenmaryo said:
This is why I've become a huge fan of screen...

'ssh -t user@host screen -x'

canadacow: will this work correctly with your ssh implementation?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah screen is a wonderfull tool that I use every day. I was thinking if apple put some code into the notification service to do persistant background through a daemon on the device then routing ssh traffic through it would keep the connection open and solve the issue of statefullness. Otherwise I am just going to use screen.
 
Well, so far I have two solutions for the "stateful" connection issue.

1) Yes, arbitrary execution of applications is configurable. and

2) Multiple connections are allowed. If you want to open multiple SSH sessions you will be able to switch between them as though you do now with IM conversations in AIM. (And yes, I'm trying to see if I can't figure out some sort of cut/paste mechanism between the sessions.)

But yes, at close all the SSH sessions are exited and closed. Not much I can do there.

Hopefully the two elements above should alleviate the impact of losing sessions on closing the app.
 
built-in browser?

I gather one of the Twitter applications manages to have a built-in browser so you can visit linked pages without leaving the app.

Would this be possible? It'd be one of the solutions to the background connection issue for me (since my main use case is that I need to restart something, run some database query or whatever, and then check a result in the browser).

If you could do this, I'd be buying your app. And an iPhone to run it on, actually...
 
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