From 738b37b03276b198554afeab72c52f9c1a799142 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Lev A. Melnikovsky" <43612263+melnikovsky@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:04:19 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] vfs/shell: add MC_SSH_COMMAND and MC_SSH environment variable
 support

MC_SSH_COMMAND, if set, is invoked via 'sh -c' so that it can contain
options and arguments.  MC's generated flags (compression, port, login
name, hostname, remote command) are passed as positional parameters and
are available as "$@" inside the command string, mirroring the
GIT_SSH_COMMAND convention.

MC_SSH, if set, replaces the 'ssh' binary with a plain executable path
and no shell interpretation, analogous to GIT_SSH.  MC_SSH_COMMAND
takes precedence over MC_SSH.

Examples:
  MC_SSH_COMMAND='ssh -i ~/.ssh/mykey' mc
  MC_SSH_COMMAND='ssh -o ProxyJump=bastion -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no' mc
  MC_SSH=/usr/local/bin/myssh mc

Both variables are ignored for rsh connections (port == SHELL_FLAG_RSH).
---
 src/vfs/shell/shell.c | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/vfs/shell/shell.c b/src/vfs/shell/shell.c
index 7fbcd4d565..1001184896 100644
--- a/src/vfs/shell/shell.c
+++ b/src/vfs/shell/shell.c
@@ -515,11 +515,38 @@ static void
 shell_open_archive_pipeopen (struct vfs_s_super *super)
 {
     char gbuf[10];
-    const char *argv[10];  // All of 10 is used now
+    const char *argv[14]; // increased for optional sh -c prefix
     const char *xsh = (super->path_element->port == SHELL_FLAG_RSH ? "rsh" : "ssh");
+    const char *mc_ssh_cmd;
+    gboolean use_shell_cmd;
     int i = 0;
 
-    argv[i++] = xsh;
+    mc_ssh_cmd = g_getenv ("MC_SSH_COMMAND");
+    use_shell_cmd =
+        (mc_ssh_cmd != NULL && *mc_ssh_cmd != '\0' && super->path_element->port != SHELL_FLAG_RSH);
+
+    /* MC_SSH: plain executable override, lower priority than MC_SSH_COMMAND.
+     * Ignored for rsh connections, mirroring the GIT_SSH convention. */
+    if (!use_shell_cmd && super->path_element->port != SHELL_FLAG_RSH)
+    {
+        const char *mc_ssh = g_getenv ("MC_SSH");
+
+        if (mc_ssh != NULL && *mc_ssh != '\0')
+            xsh = mc_ssh;
+    }
+
+    if (use_shell_cmd)
+    {
+        /* Invoke as: sh -c "$MC_SSH_COMMAND" ssh [MC-generated-args...]
+         * MC's flags (-C, -p, -l, host, remote-cmd) arrive as $@ inside the
+         * shell command, mirroring the GIT_SSH_COMMAND convention. */
+        argv[i++] = "sh";
+        argv[i++] = "-c";
+        argv[i++] = mc_ssh_cmd;
+        argv[i++] = "ssh"; // $0 inside the shell script
+    }
+    else
+        argv[i++] = xsh;
     if (super->path_element->port == SHELL_FLAG_COMPRESSED)
         argv[i++] = "-C";
 
@@ -552,7 +579,7 @@ shell_open_archive_pipeopen (struct vfs_s_super *super)
     argv[i++] = "echo SHELL:; /bin/sh";
     argv[i++] = NULL;
 
-    shell_pipeopen (super, xsh, argv);
+    shell_pipeopen (super, use_shell_cmd ? "sh" : xsh, argv);
 }
 
 /* --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- */