SSH error on Linux : Failed to add the host to the list of known hosts

Question

I am getting this error

Failed to add the host to the list of known hosts (/home/my_user/.ssh/known_hosts).

my_user@the_server.com: Permission denied (publickey).

I struggle to figure out why I am getting it.

Solution

All files should be owned by the user trying to connect.

So in my case I had to use an admin user to do

sudo chown my_user config
sudo chown my_user id_rsa
sudo chown my_user id_rsa.pub
sudo chown my_user known_hosts

Comments

[davidbaumann]

Check the file permissions: unix.stackexchange.com/questions/37164/…

[Chapo]

Thks that's what I put in my answer indeed.

[Kevin B Burns]

Hey, FYI, sudo chown username {config,id_rsa,id_rsa.pub,known_hosts} would have saved you a few keystrokes.