Man page 1 : ssh-copy-id

ssh-copy-id - install your public key in a remote machine's authorized_keys

ssh-copy-id [-i [identity_file]] "[user@]machine"

R ssh-copy-id is a script that uses ssh to log into a remote machine (presumably using a login password, so password authentication should be enabled, unless you've done some clever use of multiple identities)

It also changes the permissions of the remote user's home,

R ~/.ssh , and

~/.ssh/authorized_keys to remove group writability (which would otherwise prevent you from logging in, if the remote

sshd has

StrictModes set in its configuration).

If the

-i option is given then the identity file (defaults to

R ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ) is used, regardless of whether there are any keys in your

R ssh-agent . Otherwise, if this:

ssh-add -L

provides any output, it uses that in preference to the identity file.

If the

-i option is used, or the

ssh-add produced no output, then it uses the contents of the identity file. Once it has one or more fingerprints (by whatever means) it uses ssh to append them to

~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the remote machine (creating the file, and directory, if necessary)

R ssh (1),

R ssh-agent (1),

R sshd (8)