gnome-keyring asks for SSH passphrase *every* time I use ssh

Bug #252498 reported by Anders Kaseorg
20
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
GNOME Keyring
Fix Released
Medium
gnome-keyring (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Ubuntu Desktop Bugs
Intrepid
Fix Released
Medium
Ubuntu Desktop Bugs

Bug Description

Binary package hint: gnome-keyring

As of a few days ago in my intrepid amd64 install, every time I use SSH, I am prompted by a gnome-keyring dialog to unlock my SSH private key. Even upon entering the correct passphrase, I am asked for a password on the terminal asking me to enter the passphrase again. My passphrase is never remembered no matter how many times I enter it. This makes SSH and all applications that use it (e.g. version control tools) seriously unusable with private keys.

Revision history for this message
Anders Kaseorg (andersk) wrote :

The problem goes away after downgrading to gnome-keyring 2.22.2-0ubuntu1.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

could everybody stop adding the ubuntu version they are using to the title? that creates confusion and extra work when next ubuntu versions open, you can use the description to specify what version you are using

otherwise not confirming the bug on intrepid, using ssh on a command line gives an error but doesn't ask for passphrase

Revision history for this message
Gediminas Paulauskas (menesis) wrote :

I can confirm this in intrepid i386. Looks similar to bug #201786 or at least I get the same error in console, and running ssh-add manually hides the problem that the keyring agent does not work.

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Saku Ytti (ubuntu-ip) wrote :

I also see this (AMD64 machine).

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Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

The issue is known upstream, you can read about it on http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=544554

Changed in gnome-keyring:
assignee: nobody → desktop-bugs
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → Triaged
Changed in gnome-keyring:
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Martin Maney (maney) wrote :

Hardy 32-bit system here - just got 2.22.2-0ubuntu1 in an update ten minutes ago. It's still broken. Same workaround is, for things I've tried, perfect: replace /usr/lib/gnome-keyring/gnome-keyring-ask with a link to /bin/false. No more idiotic popups from this useless program!

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

could you not comment on bugs to suggest broken workaround when you don't understand the issue? the bug you are commenting on is the ssh agent being broken in intrepid

Revision history for this message
Martin Maney (maney) wrote : Re: [Bug 252498] Re: gnome-keyring asks for SSH passphrase *every* time I use ssh

Thanks you, Sebastien, it's always nice to know that Ubuntu *wants*
people to take their time to let them know about bugs. It's people
like you who probably prevent that from happening more.

FWIW, I did see that this bug was first reported in Intrepid. But I
had also come across other bugs while looking for "the right one" to
which to attach my notes that begged people not to attach release names
since - and I've noticed this myself - issues often carry over across
release boundaries. And the specific workaround mentioned in *this*
bug was to revert to the same version of gnome-keyring that Hardy had
just been upgraded to - which didn't help at all for me. So I
foolishly assumed that there just might be a clue in this otherwise
perhaps unobserved commonality. I'm sorry that bothered you, and would
promise that I'd never annoy *you* again, but since I haven't yet given
up on trying to report on problems that affect the usability of
Ubuntu's supported releases, I can't.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

you don't bother me but don't give workarounds on bugs which could lead other users to break their installation, the binary you suggest replacing is installed for a reason. the bug tracker is there to describe and work on software issues, not to act an user forum and suggest user hints

now if you read the bug you will see there is a comment before yours mentionning that downgrading to the hardy version does workaround the issue, and the bug is about the ssh agent, how would it work if users replace the dialog to enter the passphrase like you suggested there?

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package gnome-keyring - 2.23.6-0ubuntu2

---------------
gnome-keyring (2.23.6-0ubuntu2) intrepid; urgency=low

  * Add debian/patches/00svn-fix-ssh-password-prompt.patch: Fix password
    reading for the ssh agent, taken from upstream svn (r1228).
    (LP: #252498)

 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:15:13 +0200

Changed in gnome-keyring:
status: Triaged → Fix Released
Changed in gnome-keyring:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
Changed in gnome-keyring:
importance: Unknown → Medium
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