Cannot push to git repository - permission denied

Question

I have a following problem:

$ git push -u origin master
Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.

I have already checked the connection doing this:

$ ssh -vT git@github.com

and output looks good, I was correctly authenticated.

While checking further, I noticed that:

$ ssh-add -l
The agent has no identities.

I have tried to run ssh-agent, but nothing changed:

$ ssh-agent
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/ssh-A1mhFqvqncuO/agent.766; export SSH_AUTH_SOCK;
SSH_AGENT_PID=767; export SSH_AGENT_PID;
echo Agent pid 767;
$ ssh-add -l
Could not open a connection to your authentication agent.

I am using Arch Linux. Any help would be strong appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Github diagnostic help here.

Answer 1

I had the similar problem and my problem was solved by running the following command to add my key to the list of known keys:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Hope it solves yours too. ;)

Answer 2

You need to do in your console (if you use an a putty ssh client):

1. Generate the keys, if keys not exist:

   cd ~/.ssh && ssh-keygen -lf ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
   

Don't forget password, entered at this step!

1. Output your public key to screen:

   cd ~/.ssh && cat id_rsa.pub
   

2. Copy this string by click and move a mouse pointer from begin output to end. No need to press Ctrl + V or any more keys.

3. Log in your account on GitHub and add this public key to https://github.com/settings/ssh

4. Now you can use your git locally.

Answer 3

If you haven't already read it, you should look through the GitHub help page for this error:

Error: Permission denied (publickey)

Every time that I've had this problem, it was due to the last issue listed on that page: I didn't have the public key from my current workstation attached to my GitHub account. Of course, GitHub also provides instructions on how to attach your public key to your account.

---

tl;dr

Make sure your current public key is attached to your GitHub account.

Answer 4

I don't think this will solve your problem since you tested ssh -vT git@github.com directly and it worked, but you are using the ssh-agent improperly. You need to run

$ eval `ssh-agent -s`
Agent pid 767
$ ssh-add -l
The agent has no identities.

This will evaluate the environment export commands and allow your ssh-add and ssh commands to communicate with the agent. Alternatively, you can ask the agent to start a shell, terminal, etc. and it will set up the proper environment:

$ ssh-agent bash
$ ssh-add -l
The agent has no identities.

In this case, the shell is running as a child of the ssh-agent and the agent will shut down when the shell quits.

Answer 5

I faced the same issue on my Ubuntu and then I realize that I am on sudo mode, once I just access remote without sudo it went well.

That's how I get rid if the issue, hope it may help.

Answer 6

Permission denied (public key). I encountered this problem today, but I found a solution finally, and successfully solved my problem.

Maybe you should verify following issues：

1. you have a github account
2. git config your username and -mail
3. generate a ssh-key pri/pub pair and add the public key to your git account, please check this may give you help: generating new ssh key and cannot push git repository 'permission denied'
4. check that ssh-key is successfully added: ssh -V username@github.com
5. good luck!

Answer 7

In my case I had this problem with GitLab because I was working with non-default SSH key pair paths. @NEO 's answer works perfectly:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/other_id_rsa

However, I had to do this everytime that I opened a new terminal.

To make this change permanent, you have to edit ~/.ssh/config and add the following:

Host gitlab.company.com
RSAAuthentication yes
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/config/private-key-filename

For more detailed info check gitlab's documentation.