Set Personal SSH Key on Linux (and Mac) guide error

[Gabi Davar]

Hi,

https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/docs/set-up-personal-ssh-keys-on-linux/

creates an SSH key using  `-f` under user's home directory:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -b 4096 -C "{username@emaildomain.com}" -f {ssh-key-name}

but the ssh configuration snippet assumes the key was generated under ./ssh :

Host bitbucket.org
    AddKeysToAgent yes 
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/{ssh-key-name}

Unless I'm missing some magic behind the scenes the guide only works since the key was added to the ssh-agent.

It would seem correct and more secure to modify the guide to generate the key under ~/.ssh (instead of ~).

Thanks!

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your quick answer.

I don't see anything in the above man page which suggests ssh-add copies keys to ~/.ssh. It only states that if no files are given the certain default are used.

It is easily shown when tested:

$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -b 4096 -C "XXXXXXXXXXXXX" -f test-key
Generating public/private ed25519 key pair.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in test-key
Your public key has been saved in test-key.pub
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:9hRqgtxVpnZvjXd4GAJPtFqvDhd16PyoVphQd77skko XXXXXXXX.com
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ED25519 256]--+
| +.o |
| + +.....|
| + o.=.+o.|
| . o o o.= O =.|
| o o S o.=oX +|
| + o .o+.B |
| oEo.+ .|
| .+.+ . |
| o+ . |
+----[SHA256]-----+
$ ls test-key*
test-key test-key.pub
$ ls ~/.ssh/test-key*
ls: cannot access '/home/XXXXX/.ssh/test-key*': No such file or directory
$ ssh-add test-key
Identity added: test-key (XXXXXX.com)
$ ls ~/.ssh/test-key*
ls: cannot access '/home/XXXXX/.ssh/test-key*': No such file or directory

[Peter Van de Voorde]

Hi @Gabi Davar ,

First off: welcome to the Atlassian Community.

If I read the guide correctly this command:

ssh-add ~/{ssh-key-name}

Actually creates the different files under ~/.ssh/

As explained here: https://linux.die.net/man/1/ssh-add

And that's why that command works as far as I know.

If you feel there is still an error I would suggest using the "Provide Feedback about this article" link at the bottom of the article. That should send your feedback directly to the right team.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Peter