Accessing ~/.ssh/config aliases from bash and python

Question

I use ~/.ssh/config to manage hosts that I need to interact with frequently. Sometimes I would like to access the aliases from that file in scripts that do not use ssh directly, ie if I have a .ssh/config with

Host host1
  User user1
  Hostname server1.somewhere.net

I would like to be able to say something like sshcfg['host1'].Hostname to get server1.somewhere.net in scripting languages, particularly Python and something sensible in Bash.

I would prefer to do this with standard tools/libraries if possible. I would also prefer the tools to autodetect the the current configuration from the environment rather than have to be explicitly pointed at a configuration file. I do not know if there is a way to have alternate configs in ssh but if there is I would like a way to autodetect the currently active one. Otherwise just defaulting to "~/.ssh/config" would do.

Answer 1

It is possible to specify an alternative configuration file on the command line, but ~/.ssh/config is always the default. For an alternative configuration file use the -F configfile option.

You can either try parsing the original config file, or have a file that is better suited for manipulation and generate an alternative configuration file or part of the default configuration file from that.