[Discuss] SSH options (was Future of X11 (was Trying to connect to internet in Debian))

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

On 1/18/26 6:17 PM, Daniel Barrett wrote:
> On January 18, 2026, Kent Borg wrote:
>> - "-A"
>> Man page says "forwarding of connections from an authentication agent",
>> sounds straightforward
>>
>> - "-Y"
>> Man page says "Enables trusted X11 forwarding.", and now I am confused
>> and think I don't understand "-A".
> Quick explanation: SSH agent forwarding and X11 forwarding are just
> different things. :-)
>
> Agent forwarding is about SSH agents. It transparently allows a single
> agent (a key store) on one machine to handle SSH authentication
> requests from another machine as if the agent were local to the second
> machine.
>
> X11 forwarding is about X. It allows X windows on the SSH server to
> open on the SSH client's display machine.

I thought -X was X11 forwarding.

And -A is ssh agent forwarding.

But then what is -Y? How is it different from -X? The name sounds all 
secure, so does that make it related forwarding ssh credentials?


-kb