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SSH-COPY-ID

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 14 November 1999
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NAME

ssh-copy-id – install your public key in a remote machine’s authorized_keys

SYNOPSIS

ssh-copy-id [-i [identity_file]]

[[email protected]]machine

DESCRIPTION

ssh-copy-id

is a script that uses ssh to log into a remote machine (presumably
using a login password, so password authentication should be enabled,
unless you’ve done some clever use of multiple identities)

It also changes the permissions of the remote user’s home,
~/.ssh,

and
~/.ssh/authorized_keys

to remove group writability (which would otherwise prevent you from logging in, if the remote
sshd

has
StrictModes

set in its configuration).

If the
-i

option is given then the identity file (defaults to
~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub)

is used, regardless of whether there are any keys in your
ssh-agent.

Otherwise, if this:

ssh-add -L

provides any output, it uses that in preference to the identity file.

If the
-i

option is used, or the
ssh-add

produced no output, then it uses the contents of the identity
file. Once it has one or more fingerprints (by whatever means) it
uses ssh to append them to
~/.ssh/authorized_keys

on the remote machine (creating the file, and directory, if necessary)

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