Show HN: Make ssh config more manageable

For those who are not familiar with the .ssh/config file, this is a nice way of making aliases when ssh-ing into a server.

So instead of constantly typing: ssh root@mywebserveroverthere.somesubdomian.somedomain.com

you can create an alias for it in a file called config in the .ssh directory like this:

Host web1 HostName mywebserveroverthere.somesubdomian.somedomain.com User root IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

From now on you can just type: ssh web1

and you're in!

However, over time my config file has gotten longer and longer, and is becoming harder to manage. It would be nice if I could split into individual files.

Unfortunately the config file has no way of including other files, so ... Make to the rescue.

1. split your config files into meaningful files starting with config_ e.g. config_webservers config_dbs

2. create a file called Makefile in the .ssh directory and add the following: config: FORCE cat config_* > config

FORCE:

3. Save the file note: the second line must begin with a tab or it wont work. 'FORCE' is a way to force the creation of a new file every time.

Now you can update the individual files and when done, you can run Make config

and it will produce a new config file for you.

I'd appreciate your comments, or if you have a better way of doing this.