sshoot is used, along with sshuttle, to manage multiple sshuttle VPN sessions through the command line interface. sshuttle allows us to create a VPN connection from your machine to any remote server that you can connect to via ssh, as long as that server has python 3.8 or higher. To work, we must have root access on the local machine, but we can have a normal account on the server.
We can also run sshuttle more than once simultaneously on a single client machine, connecting to a different server every time, so we can be connected to more than one VPN at once.
sshoot allows defining multiple VPN sessions using sshuttle and start/stop them as needed. It supports configuration options for most of sshuttle‘s features, thus, providing flexible configuration for profiles.
Installing sshoot
There are multiple ways through which you can install sshoot on our Linux PC. We will discuss all these steps one by one.
Using default package manager
Installing via Pip
Installing via Snap
We will install sshoot and also shuttle together, as both needs to be installed on your system to work in tandem. So let’s get started!
Method 1: Using default package manager
Open your Terminal, and follow the command according to your distribution.
Debian stretch / Ubuntu 16.04 or later:
sudo apt-get install sshuttle sshoot
If your system shows you the error “Unable to locate package sshoot“, like this below image.
“Unable to locate package sshoot” Error
Then, you can use other methods mentioned in this article to install this tool on your distribution.
Installing just sshuttle using the package manager
Method 2: Installing via Pip
On any other Linux distribution, such as Arch Linux or Fedora workstation, We can also install sshoot using pip. If the previous method not worked for you, then open a fresh Terminal tab and run the below given command.
This will install sshuttle and sshoot in python virtual environment named sshuttle. If you want to know more about python virtual environment, this article will help.
Here apt is for Debian based distros, for Red hat based distros it will be yum or dnf. Change apt according to your distribution.
Method 3: Installing via Snap
If you don’t have installed snap on your Linux PC, follow this guide and install using the commands according to your OS. For Debian, follow below given command:
I used the following command, to connect another Linux PC: (Where me is username and 192.168.1.6 is IP address of that PC. And 0.0.0.0/0 subnet can also be written as 0/0)
When it starts, sshuttle creates an ssh session to the server specified by the -r option.
We don’t need to install sshuttle on the remote server; the remote server just needs to have python available, and then sshuttle will automatically upload and run its source code to the remote python interpreter.
If you installed shuttle and sshoot via pip method, then run these commands in that specific python environment. Because shuttle and sshoot has installed for that environment only.
Create a sshoot profile
In order to create a profile, run the following command:
We can list out all existing profiles using below command.
sshoot list
sshoot profiles list
Some useful sshoot commands:
sshoot start [profile name] #To start a profile
sshoot stop [profile name] #To stop a profile
sshoot delete [profile name] #To delete a profile
sshoot --help #Help for sshoot
Conclusion
In this module, we discussed sshoot which is used for managing multiple sshutte VPN profiles, and how to install it on our Linux system. We installed sshoot on our Linux in three different ways, one way by using default package manager, secondly via pip and finally with snap.
We hope this article helped you to understand how shuttle ans sshoot works together.
Frequently asked questions
What is sshoot used for on Linux?
sshoot manages multiple sshuttle VPN sessions from the command line, letting you create, name and store profiles instead of typing the full sshuttle command with all its options every time you connect.
Do I need sshuttle installed separately from sshoot?
Yes. sshoot is a wrapper around sshuttle, not a replacement for it, so both packages need to be installed together or the sshoot command has nothing to control on your system.
Why does installing sshoot with Snap require the –classic flag?
sshoot needs to run outside Snap’s usual sandbox to manage ssh connections and system routing tables, so Canonical’s Snap Store lists it as a classic snap and the install command needs the –classic flag to work.
Is the sshoot package still actively maintained?
Development has slowed. The Snap Store listing shows the stable channel was last updated in August 2023, with only the edge channel picking up a small update in October 2024, so expect infrequent releases rather than frequent new features.
Can I install sshoot without root access on my Linux machine?
No. sshoot needs root access on the local machine to create the VPN tunnel and adjust routing, though the remote server only needs a normal user account with Python 3.8 or later installed.
Where can I find the sshoot source code and license?
sshoot is hosted on GitHub under Alberto Donato’s account and released under the GPL-3.0 license, so anyone can read the source, file issues or contribute changes back to the project.
What is the difference between installing sshoot with apt, pip and snap?
apt pulls sshoot from your distro’s repositories but is not packaged everywhere. Pip installs it inside a Python virtual environment for wider compatibility and snap bundles it with its dependencies so it works the same across most Linux distributions.
