NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     ssh-add - adds RSA or DSA identities to  the  authentication
agent

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     ssh-add [-lLdDxXc] [-t life] [file ...]
     ssh-add -s reader
     ssh-add -e reader

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     ssh-add  adds  RSA  or  DSA identities to the authentication
agent,
     ssh-agent(1).  When run without arguments, it adds the files
     $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa,           $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa           and
$HOME/.ssh/identity.  Alternative
 file names can be given on the command  line.   If  any
file requires a
     passphrase,  ssh-add  asks for the passphrase from the user.
The
     passphrase is read from the user's tty.  ssh-add retries the
last
     passphrase if multiple identity files are given.

     The   authentication   agent   must   be   running  and  the
SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment
 variable must  contain  the  name  of  its  socket  for
ssh-add to work.

     The options are as follows:

     -l       Lists fingerprints of all identities currently represented by the
             agent.

     -L      Lists public key parameters of all  identities  currently represented
 by the agent.

     -d      Instead of adding the identity, removes the identity
from the
             agent.

     -D      Deletes all identities from the agent.

     -x      Lock the agent with a password.

     -X      Unlock the agent.

     -t life
             Set a maximum lifetime when adding identities to  an
agent.  The
             lifetime  may  be  specified in seconds or in a time
format specified
 in sshd_config(5).

     -c      Indicates that added identities should be subject to
confirmation
             before  being used for authentication.  Confirmation
is performed
             by the SSH_ASKPASS program  mentioned  below.   Successful confirmation
  is  signaled  by  a  zero exit status from the
SSH_ASKPASS program,
 rather than text entered into the requester.

     -s reader
             Add key in smartcard reader.

     -e reader
             Remove key in smartcard reader.

ENVIRONMENT    [Toc]    [Back]

     DISPLAY and SSH_ASKPASS
             If ssh-add needs a  passphrase,  it  will  read  the
passphrase from
             the  current terminal if it was run from a terminal.
If ssh-add
             does not have a terminal associated with it but DISPLAY and
             SSH_ASKPASS  are  set,  it  will execute the program
specified by
             SSH_ASKPASS and open  an  X11  window  to  read  the
passphrase.  This
             is  particularly  useful when calling ssh-add from a
.xsession or
             related script.  (Note that on some machines it  may
be necessary
             to  redirect  the  input from /dev/null to make this
work.)

     SSH_AUTH_SOCK
             Identifies the path of a unix-domain socket used  to
communicate
             with the agent.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     $HOME/.ssh/identity
             Contains  the  protocol version 1 RSA authentication
identity of
             the user.

     $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa
             Contains the protocol version 2  DSA  authentication
identity of
             the user.

     $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa
             Contains  the  protocol version 2 RSA authentication
identity of
             the user.

     Identity files should not be readable by anyone but the  user.  Note that
     ssh-add  ignores  identity  files  if they are accessible by
others.

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Exit status is 0 on success,  1  if  the  specified  command
fails, and 2 if
     ssh-add is unable to contact the authentication agent.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     ssh(1), ssh-agent(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(8)

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     OpenSSH  is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12
release by
     Tatu Ylonen.  Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels
Provos, Theo
     de Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-added newer features and created
 OpenSSH.  Markus Friedl contributed the support for SSH
protocol
     versions 1.5 and 2.0.

OpenBSD      3.6                       September     25,     1999