Saving SSH keys in macOS Sierra keychain
Source links
- https://openradar.appspot.com/27348363
- https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/48794
- http://testequals.com/2016/09/09/macos-sierra-10-12-ssh-keys/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/osx/comments/52zn5r/difficulties_with_sshagent_in_macos_sierra/
- https://developer.apple.com/library/content/technotes/tn2449/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS40017589
Problem
As described in detail on https://openradar.appspot.com/27348363, macOS/OS X till Yosemite used to remember SSH keys added by command ssh-add -K <key>
.
Unfortunately this way no longer works and the command ssh-add -K
in macOS Sierra no longer saves SSH keys in the keychain. As Apple Developer stated:
"That’s expected. We re-aligned our behavior with the mainstream OpenSSH in this area."
Solutions
Solution 1 (recommended)
Apple updated its [Technical Notes] (https://developer.apple.com/library/content/technotes/tn2449/_index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS40017589) to indicate that since 10.12.2, macOS includes version 7.3p1 of OpenSSH and its new behaviors.
In ~/.ssh
create config
file with the following content:
Host * (asterisk for all hosts or add specific host)
AddKeysToAgent yes
UseKeychain yes
IdentityFile <key> (e.g. ~/.ssh/userKey)
Solution 2
After usage of ssh-add -K <key>
(it's recommended to use absolute path of keys) call the command ssh-add -A
on every startup of macOS.
To automate this, add a .plist with the following content to the path ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>ssh-add-a</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>ssh-add</string>
<string>-A</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>
<!-- @@@@LingonWhatStart:ssh-add -A@@@@LingonWhatEnd -->
Alternatives
-
Create this file with the Lingon app.
-
Use
curl
to download the .plist file to the stated path:curl -o ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ssh.add.a.plist https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jirsbek/SSH-keys-in-macOS-Sierra-keychain/master/ssh.add.a.plist
Notes
If you have issues with ssh-add: illegal option -- K
after using the ssh-add -K
command, you may use the full path of the command /usr/bin/ssh-add
.