tilde_expand: No such user .ssh

Question

I have this weirdest error where a single IP address with ssh would immediately return an error

arthur@arthur-laptop:~$ ssh 192.168.1.85
tilde_expand: No such user .ssh

I feel like it's an issue with autocompletion or something similar. And I have no idea where to look to fix this.

A few info points :

The error does not show up when running the command as root
The error does not show up when using any other IP address (it only fails for 192.168.1.85)
which ssh returns /usr/bin/ssh
There is no weird aliases in .bash_aliases, nor in .bash_profile nor in bash_logout

I'm clueless. This is obviously a weird alias set up somewhere, but I have no idea where to look. Any clue ?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 25 '23 at 22:04

2

The error message tilde_expand: No such user .ssh sounds like ssh is trying to expand ~.ssh, rather than presumably ~/.ssh.

I would check ~/.ssh/config and /etc/ssh/ssh_config (or alternative ssh configuration files) for typos of paths.

answered Mar 25 '23 at 22:04

Torin

Spot on. I had no idea I had a .ssh/config file laying around, probably a bad copy/paste. Indeed it contained something like IdentityFile ~.ssh/id_rsa_server. – Arthur Attout Mar 25 '23 at 22:09
@ArthurAttout this kind of error always means you forgot a / somewhere. The trick is in finding it... – RonJohn Mar 25 '23 at 22:51

1 Answers1