TunnelOps

Interactive SSH tunnel and file transfer manager built with Bash.

Release: v1.0.0

License: AGPLv3

Project Description

TunnelOps is an interactive Bash utility for managing SSH port forwarding and remote file transfers. It supports:

• Dynamic local port forwarding (multiple -L mappings)
• File and directory transfer via scp with optional recursive copy
• Optional privileged placement on the remote host (using remote sudo)
• Configuration persistence and unattended auto-start (--auto) via a saved config.env

Features

• Password or key-based SSH authentication (sshpass supported for password auth)
• Interactive prompts for username, server IP, auth method, and operation
• Port forwarding with multiple mappings
• File transfer with optional recursive copy and remote sudo placement
• Auto-start support using crontab/cronie (interactive install prompt available)
• Logs and configuration stored in user directories following XDG conventions

Requirements

• Bash (recommended v4+)
• OpenSSH client tools: ssh, scp
• Optional: sshpass (for password-based authentication)
• Optional: cronie (for cron-based auto-start)

Installation

Clone the repository and make the script executable:

git clone https://github.com/rdarshan927/tunnelops.git
cd tunnelops
chmod +x tunnel.sh

AUR (Arch Linux)

Install from the Arch User Repository (example using yay):

yay -S tunnelops

Optional dependencies (install as needed):

• sshpass — required only for password-based SSH authentication
• cronie — optional, required for cron auto-start support

Usage

Run interactively (installed or local):

# If installed from AUR
tunnelops

# If running from repository
./tunnel.sh

Example unattended mode (auto):

./tunnel.sh --auto

Notes:

• When installed from AUR the command tunnelops runs the packaged script.
• --auto loads config.env from the user's configuration directory and starts the saved tunnels without interactive prompts.

Interactive Prompts

The script will prompt for the following information when run interactively:

• SSH username
• Remote server IP address (IPv4)
• Authentication method:
  • Password (requires sshpass), or
  • SSH private key file path
• Operation type:
  1. Port Forwarding — enter the number of mappings, then for each mapping enter a local port and remote port
  2. File Transfer — provide local path, remote destination, choose recursive if copying directories, and indicate if remote sudo is required

Port Forwarding

• Builds and runs an ssh -N -f command with one or more -L rules
• Runs the tunnel in the background and logs output to the user log file

File Transfer

• Uses scp for file and directory transfers
• For password auth the script uses sshpass if available
• If remote sudo is required, the script uploads to a temporary path (e.g., /tmp/...) and attempts a sudo mv on the remote host via ssh

Configuration & Logs

• Configuration (saved by the script) is stored at:

~/.config/tunnelops/config.env

• Logs are stored at:

~/.local/share/tunnelops/logs/tunnel.log

These paths respect the XDG environment variables XDG_CONFIG_HOME and XDG_DATA_HOME when set.

Cron / Auto-start

• The script can add an @reboot cron job to start saved tunnels at user login/reboot.
• If crontab/cron is not found, the script offers to detect the package manager and install cron or cronie interactively (requires sudo).

Links and References

• GitHub repository: https://github.com/rdarshan927/tunnelops
• AUR package page: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tunnelops

Security Notes

• Password-based authentication stores credentials in config.env only if you choose to save configuration; files are written with restrictive permissions.
• For unattended use, prefer SSH key authentication and avoid saving plaintext passwords where possible.
• Protect private keys with chmod 600.

Contributing

Contributions, issues, and suggestions are welcome. When submitting changes, follow secure coding practices and avoid embedding sensitive credentials in source.

License

This project is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPLv3). See the LICENSE file for full terms.