May I suggest a different solution for the problem? How about the "Control" feature of (open-)ssh?
man ssh_config: "Enables the sharing of multiple sessions over a single network connection" It really was unusable for me until I found the option "ControlPersist", which frees the first session. The use of the following lines in my .ssh/config is unbeaten in terms of "minimizing time to login". Host * ControlPersist 5m ControlMaster auto ControlPath "~/.ssh/%l -> %r@%h:%p" Thomas
