Creating a new user interactively on a remote machine

I have function as such:

function accountSetup() {
ssh -tt $HOST << EOF
    adduser billy
    [second command]
    [third command]
EOF
}

Which leaves the terminal hanging. I have had success using the -tt flag previously to execute a few commands with EOF interactively, but I can’t seem to create a new account interactively on my remote server with the above script.

This works fine, allowing me to set a password, name, etc. :

function accountSetup() {
    ssh -tt $HOST adduser billy
}

BUT, when I introduce my other necessary commands it starts getting dumb.. I’m sure there is a better way to execute them without repeatedly logging in like this:

function accountSetup() {
    ssh -tt $HOST adduser billy
    ssh -tt $HOST [third command]
    ssh -tt $HOST [second command]
}

The Question: What is causing my terminal to hang in my first function? How can I ssh in once to create an account interactively and continue to execute commands?

Thanks 🙂

Answer

If you tell ssh to take its input from a heredoc, it cannot simultaneously take input from you via tty.

You can rewrite your commands as:

function accountSetup() {
    ssh -t $HOST '
        adduser billy
        [second command]
        [third command]
    '
}