In two articles this year, I've written about how to use the Expect tool to help you use OpenSSH on the i. Expect is a script language that lets you automate the use of interactive Unix programs. It reads data from the interactive screens and sends input to the programs (instead of having a user type that input), providing a convenient way to control an interactive program.

Expect is a free (i.e., public domain) tool from the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) of the U.S. government. NIST provides the source code for the Expect tool, and you're expected to download it and compile it yourself. To make things simpler, other folks have provided precompiled versions of Expect that you can simply download, install, and run. Unfortunately, the sites offering these downloads keep disappearing! I've been getting quite a few emails from folks who have read my articles and have tried to use Expect but can't find the download.

In the hope of reducing people's frustration with trying to find this tool, I've posted it on my own website at the following link:
http://www.scottklement.com/expect

To learn more about how to use Expect with OpenSSH, please see the following articles:

"The SSH, SCP, and SFTP Tools from OpenSSH" (System iNetwork Programming Tips, January 10, 2008):
http://systeminetwork.com/article/ssh-scp-and-sftp-tools-openssh

"OpenSSH: The Swiss Army Knife for Secure Networking" (System iNEWS, August 2008):
http://systeminetwork.com/article/openssh-swiss-army-knife-secure-networking

The NIST website that serves as the official home of Expect is here:
http://expect.nist.gov/

Good luck!