How to Create an SSH Signing Key

To sign a digital succession, you need an SSH signing key. To do this, Hidos requires the following:

• Git version 2.34 or newer
• OpenSSH 8.8 or newer

Creating an SSH Signing Key

You will need to create an SSH key (unless you already have one for signing).

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "me@example.com" -N "" -f my_signing_key

This command will generate two files:

• my_signing_key - the private key file
• my_signing_key.pub - the public key file

You can store the public key file my_signing_key.pub anywhere, even in a public location. However, make sure to keep your private key file safe. Anyone with access to this signing key can amend new editions to your digital succession. A common location to store SSH key files is the local directory ~/.ssh/, where other SSH keys are often kept.

Configuring Git to Use Your New SSH Signing Key

First, configure Git to use SSH keys for signing instead of GPG keys:

git config --global gpg.format ssh

Next, let Git know the location of your private SSH signing key. For example:

git config --global user.signingkey ~/.ssh/my_signing_key

With these configurations in place, you can now use hidos without the --unsigned option. Keep the my_signing_key.pub file handy, as you will need it to create a signed succession.