ssh key generation command

[wbrady4927]

I want to run ssh-keygen -f [filename] but also specify no password. I know the -N option is used to specify the password but putting -N with nothing after it isn't permitted. All ideas are welcomed!

[lewisforlife]

I want to run ssh-keygen -f [filename] but also specify no password. I know the -N option is used to specify the password but putting -N with nothing after it isn't permitted. All ideas are welcomed!

ssh-keygen [filename] -t rsa

You will be prompted for a pass phrase, simply press enter without entering one and a pass phrase will not be set.

You might want to check out this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH/OpenSSH/Keys

[wbrady4927]

I should have been more clear. I understand you can do that, but I want to do this without user input. It is a part of an installation script and I don't want to the person running it to have to press Enter. I just want it to know from the command. Thank you for your advice however.

[lewisforlife]

This is just a start:

ssh-keygen -f [filename] | yes ""

I believe this will achieve what you are looking for. But yes runs forever until killed with ctrl+c, if you can find a way to automatically kill yes after a few seconds that would be ideal.

[lewisforlife]

I am not good with bash, but you could run a bash script that does this without prompting:

#!/bin/bash

ssh-keygen -f file | yes "" &
sleep 1
killall yes
exit

This will create the key pair and set the paraphrase to nothing. There has to be a better way of doing this. I am the king of figuring out round-about complicated ways of doing things.