SSH

Create private key

To create a private/public key pair, execute following command in a Terminal:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -m PEM

The parameters -m PEM are necessary, because some newer SSH implementations, e.g. on macOS 10.14, use a different format of the private key file that is not (yet) supported by the SSH library SmartGit is using.

Converting an existing private key to PEM-format

If you have a private key file which is not supported, please try this command in a Terminal:

$ ssh-keygen -f <private_key_file> -p -m PEM

It will prompt for the old passphrase once (if any) and for the new passphrase twice.

Windows: Configure PuTTY and Pageant

Warning

This content still is work-in-progress and might not be accurate.

Create your public/private key pair

Use PuTTY Key Generator (puttygen.exe) to create a new public/private key pair and save to a location of your choice. Usually the private key file ends with .ppk. It is recommended to use strong passphrase.

Tell you SSH server your public key

Copy/paste the long text (actually a long single line) from the large “Public key” input field in PuTTY Key Generator to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file of your SSH server or paste to the appropriate input field of your Git/SSH hosting provider.

Tell Git to use Plink

Set the environment variable GIT_SSH to point to plink.exe.

Start Pageant

Start Pageant (pageant.exe) which only will show a small icon in the system tray. Double click that and add your private key file(s) - those created in the previous step with the PuTTY Key Generator and the .ppk extension - by providing their locations and passphrases.

It looks like Pageant does not remember your private keys and passphrases, so you have to re-add them again after each start of Pageant.