Bash – SSH into a remote shell, execute a ‘source’ command, and stay in the remote shell

bashshellsshUbuntu

I've got a script, named s, on a remote server that activates a virtual environment like this:

source venv/bin/activate

When SSH-ed into the server, I'm able to activate the environment by

. s

And I SSH into the server as following:

ssh -t user@host "cd /path/to/dir ; /bin/bash"

In addition to changing the working directory to /path/to/dir it would be nice if I could activate the environment right away each time I log into the server. But no matter where I put . s into the the SSH command, using -c for /bin/bash or not, the session always ends immediately.

Best Answer

Use a new source file e.g. /home/user/.rcforssh

 #rc for ssh
 . /home/user/.bashrc
 . /home/user/venv/bin/activate  #or whichever location

and log in with 

ssh -t user@host "cd /path/to/dir ; /bin/bash --rcfile /home/user/.rcforssh"

Side note: source is not POSIX, while . is.

UPDATE following discussion specifying OP's needs:

For creating and removing the the modified source file rcforssh on the fly, on can use:

ssh -t user@host "cd /path/to/dir ; echo '. ~/.bashrc ; . s ; rm rcforssh' > rcforssh ; /bin/bash --rcfile rcforssh"

i.e. creating the source file with an echo command and adding the removal in said file.

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