I know the answer is out there, but I'm pretty Unix-dumb and probably wouldn't recognize the solution if it hit me in the face.
I'm on a Mac, connecting to a SVN server via SSH tunneling. I have to ssh-add privateKey.txt every time I want to connect to the SVN server (Both Cornerstone and Xcode are connecting to SVN).
Is there a way to "save" the key somewhere so I don't have to do this every time? Add it to my Keychain? Some config file? Start up script?
First, move your private key file into ~/.ssh. This is not strictly necessary but it's the standard place for such things.
Then run ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/privateKey.txt. It'll prompt for your passphrase if necessary, then add it to your Keychain.
After that, you shouldn't have to do anything else. A slightly longer explanation is available here.
I don't have much experience with macs, so not sure if this version is ok for your, but have a look at http://www.phil.uu.nl/~xges/ssh/
If this particular app doesn't work, that's what you're looking for anyways - ssh agent. On unix-like boxes, you'd want to start your whole window manager through that, to get the global effect, but it might not be possible in osx.
Some more info: http://www-uxsup.csx.cam.ac.uk/~aia21/osx/leopard-ssh.html
sshkeychain is one possibility. installs fine with macports using:
sudo port install sshkeychain
it uses the keychain to store passwords, and you may simply launch it at the start-up of your login session (using at the first launch the usual right-ght click in the dock's icon + "launch at startup")
Note that Apple's svn uses keychain to store passwords but not necessarily the svn binary you would build with macports.
Add your key to the keychain by running:
ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_rsa
and edit your ssh config (~/.ssh/config) file to automatically load keys from the key chain to the ssh-agent (AddKeysToAgent yes option) and store passphrases in the keychain (UseKeychain yes option):
Host *
AddKeysToAgent yes
UseKeychain yes