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Using an Ubuntu server, I have the following user:

uid=1001(githubactions) gid=1001(githubactions) groups=1001(githubactions),27(sudo),33(www-data),998(docker)

logged in as this user, I create a ssh key pair with `ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "githubactions key" -f ~/.ssh/githubactions

When I run git clone git@github.com:user/repo.git I get: git@github.com: Permission denied (publickey)

Github has a very good article about that issue. When I run ssh-add -l -E sha256 I get Could not open a connection to your authentication agent..

Next, I add my private key to my ssh agent:

> eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
Agent pid 1022567
> ssh-add ~/.ssh/githubactions
Enter passphrase for /home/githubactions/.ssh/githubactions: 
Identity added: /home/githubactions/.ssh/githubactions (githubactions key)

I am now able to clone the repo. And now here is my issue: When I log out and back in, I am again not able to clone the repo using ssh with the error git@github.com: Permission denied (publickey) again.

Do I maybe have this issue, because I renamed my files and don't use id_rsa?

The user must be able re-use the key after logout, as I want to use it to pull the repo remotely using GitHub actions.

Peter Pan
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  • Are you aware eval "$(ssh-agent -s)" sets some variables in your current shell and exports them to the environment? Even if the agent survives your logging out (it may or may not survive), a new shell (after logging in again) has no means to know these variables. They are crucial if you want anything to communicate with the agent automatically. Can you use tmux on the server to keep a shell (holding the variables) running? – Kamil Maciorowski Jul 11 '22 at 12:06
  • I could, but even as I am not a linux expert at all, this seems to be a workaround to me. Is having an extra user for that task unusual? I am not familiar with the ssh-agent or eval at all. I just took these commands from the instructions of GitHub. – Peter Pan Jul 11 '22 at 12:11
  • See the second part of this answer. It should work, unless something (possibly systemd KillUserProcesses=yes) kills all your processes when you log out. – Kamil Maciorowski Jul 11 '22 at 12:32
  • I added the code to ~/.profile with no effect. What changes is the message after I ran ssh-add -l -E sha256: The agent has no identities.. KillUserProcesses is commented in /etc/systemd/logind.conf. – Peter Pan Jul 11 '22 at 14:09
  • When I add the private key to the ssh-agent it is working, but after logout and in, it is not working again. – Peter Pan Jul 11 '22 at 14:15
  • This maybe. – Kamil Maciorowski Jul 11 '22 at 14:20
  • Using in interactive shell explicitly has no noticeable effect – Peter Pan Jul 11 '22 at 14:38

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