CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE(3) Introduction to Library Functions

NAME

CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE - public key file for SSH auth

SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE,
char *filename);

DESCRIPTION

Pass a char pointer pointing to a filename for your public key. If
not used, libcurl defaults to $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa.pub if the HOME
environment variable is set, and just "id_dsa.pub" in the current
directory if HOME is not set.

If NULL (or an empty string) is passed to this option, libcurl passes
no public key to the SSH library, which then rather derives it from
the private key. If the SSH library cannot derive the public key from
the private one and no public one is provided, the transfer fails.

The application does not have to keep the string around after setting
this option.

DEFAULT

NULL

PROTOCOLS

This functionality affects scp and sftp

EXAMPLE

int main(void)
{
CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
if(curl) {
CURLcode result;
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "sftp://example.com/file");
curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE,
"/home/clarkkent/.ssh/id_rsa.pub");
result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
}
}

HISTORY

The "" trick was added in 7.26.0

AVAILABILITY

Added in curl 7.16.1

RETURN VALUE

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error
occurred, see libcurl-errors(3).

SEE ALSO

CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES(3), CURLOPT_SSH_PRIVATE_KEYFILE(3)

libcurl 2026-01-08 CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE(3)