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I want to bring this question / answer to the community's attention:

How to setup passwordless SSH access for root user

At the end of the day, this question has a poor title. The user can already log in via ssh with a key without a password but now wants to run sudo without a password. I revised the answer to address both issues as this question is linked as how to generate a passwordless ssh key (due to poor title).

The problem was, IMO, this question was/is a community wiki and I found it as it is used to close questions about setting up a ssh key without a password.

First problem The accepted answer was, IMO, poor quality as it used sudo to generate a key and did not discuss how to transfer the key between client and server.

I posted in the comments and was asked to re-write the answer which I did.

The original author did not appreciate my efforts and left comments to that effect, but again IMHO the original author does not understand ssh-copy-id

https://www.ssh.com/ssh/copy-id

Second problem

If you read the question, the OP is asking not how to set up a ssh key, but rather how to run sudo commands without a password. So I added in that as a duplicate.

IMO the title of the question should be changed to how to run sudo without a password once I have connected via ssh or some such.

Posting here to try to consolidate discussion and obtain a consensus on:

  1. Clarifying the original question (sudo w/o password vs ssh-key without password).

  2. Clarifying the answer - I suggest editing the title and closing as a duplicate.

  3. Providing a high quality answer to the question "how to make a ssh key without a password" as this is a frequent question here (or at least I have come across it) and cleaning up the use of sudo and how to transfer a key seemed to make sense.

So what do you want me to do now? What would be best?

  • Revert my changes?
  • Retitle question? And mark as duplicate?
  • Make a new question / answer re: ssh-key without password?
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  • have you used help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH and links from it to get tips how to rewrite this answer?
    – sudodus
    Aug 23, 2017 at 17:43
  • @sudodus - No, that page is fairly blank and I am not trying to coordinate wiki and this question / answer at this time.
    – Panther
    Aug 23, 2017 at 17:46
  • Maybe both (retitle + mark as duplicate) and make a new question + answer re: ssh-key without password.
    – sudodus
    Aug 23, 2017 at 17:48
  • My answer follows help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH/OpenSSH/Keys
    – Panther
    Aug 23, 2017 at 17:49
  • both would be just fine with me, and I do not mind doing the work, but I am trying to do what is best without upsetting the others involved.
    – Panther
    Aug 23, 2017 at 17:50
  • Yes, help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH/OpenSSH/Keys -- I have used that link and it works for me. But maybe you should also make it clear why and how to disable password authentication (or at least change to a very long and random password).
    – sudodus
    Aug 23, 2017 at 17:53
  • Yes my answer has how to enable and then again disable password authentication for root via ssh.
    – Panther
    Aug 23, 2017 at 18:16

1 Answer 1

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Perhaps I shouldn't be answering this, as I don't know enough about SSH, but I don't think that question should be marked as a duplicate, at least not of the target question which I think is quite unclear.

I think that this question has been upvoted on the basis of its title, of what it appears to ask. It seems to me that it has also been answered on that basis by several people. Closing it as a duplicate and editing the title would damage the validity of those answers IMHO. If the title is somewhat misleading now, perhaps the question body can be adjusted somewhat to better match it! Perhaps the OP can be invited to discuss that here?

Your edit to the answer seems very good. I suggest leaving it as it is. Thank you very much for taking the trouble to improve and update a popular post.

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