Bug 2911

Summary: Private key files should have a file extension
Product: Portable OpenSSH Reporter: mik
Component: ssh-keygenAssignee: Assigned to nobody <unassigned-bugs>
Status: NEW ---    
Severity: enhancement CC: peter
Priority: P5    
Version: 7.7p1   
Hardware: All   
OS: All   

Description mik 2018-10-02 09:05:47 AEST 
Current key files are stored in filenames more or less like:
id_rsa (private key)
id_rsa.pub (public key)

Generally, users only need to interact with the .pub file, but tab completion will choose the private key file by default, resulting in user errors that compromise key material.

It might be better if new keys were created with an extension indicating that they should be kept secret, such as .secret (do they have to be 3 characters still?)
Comment 1 Peter 2019-04-07 02:16:22 AEST 
This has been the convention since dawn of time. I think it will cause a lot more problems than it solves.