You need to create an ssh key pair on the machine from which you want to interact with a GitLab repo. Concretely,
- Enter the .ssh subdirectory under your $HOME: cd $HOME/.ssh. (Note that .ssh is a hidden directory and will not be visible under your $HOME by default.)
- Run ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 after reading the following sub bullets:
- The set of output, including prompts and responses from you, from running ssh-keygen... should look something like the following:
[janeh@izgw3:.ssh]$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 Generating public/private rsa key pair. Enter file in which to save the key (/home/janeh/.ssh/id_rsa): Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): Enter same passphrase again: Your identification has been saved in /home/janeh/.ssh/id_rsa. Your public key has been saved in /home/janeh/.ssh/id_rsa.pub. The key fingerprint is: SHA256:VhTID8JrMqVejFFz1wMwqvj5o0kyYobWuExST97BeQQ janeh@izgw3 The key's randomart image is: +---[RSA 2048]----+ | oE.+o=+ | | . +=++ o | | *.o.o. . | | .=o=o .. | | o.o=+ S | |..o=.o + | |+*o.* . | |B..+ o. | | o o... | +----[SHA256]-----+
- Note that you will first be asked for a filename. The default should be something like $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa. Accept this default by hitting Enter.
- Note that you will next be asked for a passphrase. Do NOT enter a passphrase. Skip this step by hitting Enter. Hit Enter a second time when asked to confirm your passphrase.
- The names of the files created and a bit of keyart will then be printed to standard out. You don’t need to do anything with the keyart.
- The set of output, including prompts and responses from you, from running ssh-keygen... should look something like the following:
- After running ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 and responding to the ensuing prompts, check that id_rsa and id_rsa.pub exist in your $HOME/.ssh directory.