Confusing SSH Public Key in GUI

[mpfusion]

Confusing SSH Public Key in GUI

Code:

Accounts/Users → root → Authentication → SSH Public Key

This is not root's public key on my system, but it contains a list of public keys and appears to be /root/.ssh/authorized_keys. Is this correct or a misconfiguration on my end?

And the button

Code:

Accounts/Users → root → “Download SSH Public Key”

does in fact download the authorized keys file instead of the public key of root. Is this correct behaviour? If yes, the terminology is very confusing. A public key and the authorized list of public keys is something completely different.

If I go to root → “Download SSH Public Key” I expect to download root's public key.

Is this how it's supposed to be or a misconfiguration on my system?

TrueNAS-13.0.U2

 

[Samuel Tai]

This is an account management screen, and the SSH public key field is for someone setting up SSH access to root's account. So it's always intended to hold the authorized_keys public key of whomever is SSHing to root's account.

 

[mpfusion]

Ok, then it's configured correctly. The terminology used is in my opinion wrong and confusing:

It should be called “Authorized Keys” not “Public Key”. When clicking “Download SSH Public Key” I expect the public key to be downloaded, so it can be added to some other host's authorized_keys file. But that's not what happens.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Samuel Tai]

If you feel strongly about it, click the "Report a Bug" link to raise awareness with the developers. This is how you address UI annoyances like this.