SSH – Load key “/Users/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub”: invalid format
Suddenly the git push via SSH failed, and the remote server returned something like invalid format for the public key id_rsa.pub?
Terminal
git push
Load key "/Users/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub": invalid format
[email protected]: Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.
Last week, everything still working fine, unsure what is the root cause of it?
1. Check ~/.ssh/config
Review the ~/.ssh/config file and ensure the IdentityFile points to the private key id_rsa, not the public key id_rsa.pub. The common mistake is put the public key id_rsa.pub as the IdentityFile value.
Terminal
cat ~/.ssh/config
Host *
AddKeysToAgent yes
UseKeychain yes
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
Note
For the ~/.ssh/config, the IdentityFile should point to the private key that the SSH client uses to connect to the remote server (The remote server should have the public key id_rsa.pub`).
2. Solution
Open the ~/.ssh/config file, update the IdentityFile, and ensure it points it to the private key id_rsa.
Terminal
nano ~/.ssh/config
~/.ssh/config
Host *
AddKeysToAgent yes
UseKeychain yes
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
References
About Author
Founder of Mkyong.com, love Java and open source stuff. Follow him on Twitter. If you like my tutorials, consider make a donation to these charities.
Thank You !