Claude (noether)
ebccfa0467
WP8, the last code before deploy. Rewrites the client entrypoint on the v2 wire:
* target parsing: host[/hop1/hop2...]; hops resolved to incus/docker/pct verbs via
/etc/sic/hosts.toml (loaded only when hops are present), folded into the frame onion
by buildChain — verbs[0] is the outermost layer the host sicd enters first.
* argv is carried as [][]byte end to end and NEVER space-joined; --sh is the sole
exception (user asked for a shell line -> [sh -c <joined>]).
* stdin is forwarded AFTER the frame (the v1 client set Stdin to the frame alone, so
`sic host cat >f <local` wrote a zero-byte file). The copy runs in an abandoned
goroutine so a stdin-ignoring command on a tty never blocks on a read that never EOFs.
* ssh -T: the frame is binary; a pty would mangle it.
* exit code inherited from the far end.
Dead v1 framing (netstring/frameArgv/indexOf) removed — frame.go owns the wire now.
Also corrected the stale runV2 doc comment in sicd (still described the removed 0:,
terminator; it is argc-prefixed since e1f93de).
E2e on boltzmann (ssh localhost + real sicd), all green: touch "a b" -> ONE file;
echo A "" B -> "A B"; pipe+redirect stdin both forward; exit 7 propagates; a
stdin-ignoring echo does not hang; --sh; and netstring-looking args (3:x, a,b:c)
survive as single arguments.
sic
Run a command on a remote host without a shell re-parsing its arguments.
ssh host touch 'a b' creates two files: ssh joins its arguments with spaces
and hands the result to the remote login shell, which splits it again. sic host touch 'a b' creates one file named a b. sic sends the argument vector to a
daemon on the host as length-prefixed fields, and the daemon calls execvp on
it. No shell parses the arguments.
Components
sic— client. Takes argv on the command line, frames it as netstrings, pipes the frame oversshtosicd.sicd— daemon on the target host. Reads netstrings from stdin and runs the command.
Both are single static Go binaries (cmd/sic, cmd/sicd). A Python reference
implementation of the daemon is in gateway/sicd.
Wire format
Each field is a netstring: <length>:<bytes>,. A frame is a mode field, zero or
more argument fields, and an empty terminator:
<mode> <arg>* 0:,
argv = ["touch", "a b"] is 4:exec,5:touch,3:a b,0:,. The length prefix means
no byte needs escaping and no delimiter can collide with the payload.
| mode | selector | behaviour |
|---|---|---|
exec (default) |
4:exec, |
execvp(argv), no shell. Arguments are passed through unchanged. |
sh |
2:sh, |
one field passed to sh -c. Pipes, redirects, and globs work. |
Usage
sic <host> <command> [arg ...]
sic --sh <host> '<shell string>'
sic <host> -- <command> [arg ...] # explicit separator
sic host1 echo hello world
sic host1 touch 'a b' # one file named "a b"
sic host1 echo '$HOME' # literal, no expansion
sic --sh host1 'echo hi | wc -c'
Build
go build -o bin/sic ./cmd/sic
go build -o bin/sicd ./cmd/sicd
Install
Client:
cp bin/sic ~/bin/sic
Daemon on each target host. sicd runs what it is sent, so it must only be
reachable over an authenticated transport. Pin it to a dedicated ssh key so the
target can run nothing else with that key:
scp bin/sicd host:/tmp/sicd
ssh host 'sudo install -m755 /tmp/sicd /usr/local/bin/sicd'
# ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the target:
# command="sicd",no-port-forwarding,no-pty ssh-ed25519 AAAA...
Do not listen on a TCP or message-bus port.
Test
printf '4:exec,2:id,0:,' | ssh host sicd
sic host echo hello world
See also
docs/design.md— wire format, exec modes, transport and security, prior art.demos/quoting-hell.py— six cases run both ways, plainsshversussic.SKILL.md,SKILL-bg.md— agent skill definitions (foreground and background).