SSH-KEYCONVER(1)					    BSD General Commands Manual 					  SSH-KEYCONVER(1)

NAME

     ssh-keyconvert -- convert ssh v1 keys and authorization files

SYNOPSIS

     ssh-keyconvert [-k] [-o output_file] identity_file ...
     ssh-keyconvert [-a] [-o output_file] authorization_file ...

DESCRIPTION

     ssh-keyconvert converts RSA public and private keys used for public key based user authentication with protocol version 1 to the format used
     with protocol version 2.

     When using RSA user authentication with SSH protocol version 1, the client uses the private key from $HOME/.ssh/identity to provide its iden-
     tity to the server. The server grants or denies access based on whether the public part of this key is listed in $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys.

     SSH protocol version 2 supports both DSA and RSA keys, but the way RSA keys are stored are differently. On the client, the default file name
     is .ssh/id_rsa rather than .ssh/identity, and the file's format is different as well. On the server, the public porting of the key can still
     be stored in .ssh/authorized_keys, but the key notation has changed as well.  Therefore, when switching from protocol version 1 to version 2,
     you either have to create a new identity key using ssh-keygen(1) and add that key to the server's authorized_keys file, or you need to con-
     vert your keys using ssh-keyconvert.

     By default, ssh-keyconvert will try to guess the type of file that is to be converted.  If it fails to guess correctly, you can tell if what
     type of conversion to perform by specifying the -k option to convert the private key, or the -a option to convert an authorisation file.

     When converting your private keys stored in .ssh/identity, ssh-keyconvert will read the private key, prompting you for the pass phrase if the
     key is protected by a pass phrase. If the -o option is given, it will write the private key to the specified file, using version 2 syntax. If
     the key was protected by a pass phrase, it will use the same pass phrase to protect the new file.	It will also write the public portion of
     the key to a second file, using the specified file name with ``.pub'' appended.  If the -o option was not given, private and public key will
     be written to id_rsa and id_rsa.pub, respectively, relative to the directory of the input key file.

     If the destination file already exists, ssh-keyconvert will prompt the user for confirmation before overwriting the file, unless the -f
     option is given.

     When converting your authorized_keys file, ssh-keyconvert will ignore any keys in SSH version 2 format. Any public keys in version 1 format
     will be converted and appended to the output file using the new syntax. If the -o option is given, keys are appended to the specified file.
     If it is not given, ssh-keyconvert will append all keys to the input file.

     Note that ssh-keyconvert does not check for duplicate keys, so if you run it on .ssh/authorized_keys more several times, the converted keys
     will show up several times.

OPTIONS

     -k      Convert private key file(s). The default is to guess the type of file that should be converted.

     -a      Convert authorized_keys file(s). The default is to guess the type of file that should be converted.

     -o outfile
	     Specify the name of the output file.  When converting an authorization file, all public keys will be appended to this file.  For pri-
	     vate key conversion, the private and public components of the key will be stored in outfile and outfile.pub, respectively.  Note that
	     since every key must be stored in a separate file, you cannot use this option when you specify several input files.

     -f      When converting a key file, and the output file already exists, ssh-keyconvert will ask the user whether to overwrite the file. Using
	     this option forces overwriting.

AUTHORS

     OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free ssh 1.2.12 release by Tatu Ylonen.  Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus Friedl, Niels Provos,
     Theo de Raadt and Dug Song removed many bugs, re-added newer features and created OpenSSH.  ssh-keyconvert was contributed by Olaf Kirch.

SEE ALSO

     ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-agent(1), sshd(8)

     J. Galbraith and R. Thayer, SECSH Public Key File Format, draft-ietf-secsh-publickeyfile-01.txt, March 2001, work in progress material.

BSD
								 February 2, 2002							       BSD