openssh bugs - Sep 2022 - [Bug 3477] New: Support environment variable or %u token for User

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3477

            Bug ID: 3477
           Summary: Support environment variable or %u token for User
           Product: Portable OpenSSH
           Version: v9.0p1
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P5
         Component: ssh
          Assignee: unassigned-bugs at mindrot.org
          Reporter: ben at bencreasy.com

While I realize most of the ~/.ssh/config files are bespoke, I'm trying
to write a shared one for my team.

Right now I'm just leaving the User field out which means that instead
of people typing ssh <server> they type ssh <user>@<server> -
I'd like
to save them some keystrokes. Per
https://man.openbsd.org/man5/ssh_config.5#TOKENS and Env Variables
section ssh_config doesn't seem to support using a variable of any type
here.

However, I discovered that my Windows work computer using Git Bash for
Windows (https://gitforwindows.org/), ${USERNAME} was expanding to my
username properly for the User field. It says that it's running
OpenSSH_8.5p1.

On my Macbook Pro running OpenSSH_9.0p1 it didn't work - ${USER}
($USERNAME is a Windows thing) ssh <host> just gives me:
${USER}@<censored> Permission denied (publickey).

On my Macbook, I cloned down the repo from
https://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable and ran `git checkout
V_8_5_P1` and then compiled from source. Still didn't expand the
variable.

In looking at old bug/enhancement reports, I did notice
https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3140 which seemed to be
just about paths.

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https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3477

--- Comment #1 from Ben Creasy <ben at bencreasy.com> ---
I figured out how to make this work by using %r in the ProxyCommand and
an environment variable using ${VARIABLE}. The %r is for remote user -
I think it's configured in the bastion server or something?

I don't have the ssh config handy since it's work related but I may
reproduce it on my personal machine at some point.

Ultimately I was able to make an ssh config with no hardcoded
usernames, but I still think it would be useful and intuitive to allow
for a variable in the User configuration itself.

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