Stop Gnome Keyring for Managing ssh-agent on Xubuntu

Goal

Stop Gnome keyring for managing ssh-agent on Ubuntu so you can use the original OpenSSH ssh-agent implementation.

Quick Solution

The solution is quite easy because Gnome Keyring daemon provide a way to replace the existing session.

$ gnome-keyring-daemon --replace --daemonize --components=pkcs11,secrets,gpg

Command above will replace the existing Gnome Keyring daemon but it removes the ability to manage the ssh agent. You can execute command below to make sure Gnome keyring does not manage the ssh agent anymore.

$ ssh-add -l
Could not open a connection to your authentication agent.

Permanent Solution

Quick solution will not persist once you logged out or restart Xubuntu. To make it permanent the command need to be added on Session and Startup.

1. Go to Menu > Settings > Session and Startup
2. Click Application Autostart tab
3. Click Add button
4. New application window will appear, you can fill it like example below
   • Name: SSH Keyring Remover
   • Description: Remove SSH from GNOME Keyring
   • Command: gnome-keyring-daemon --replace --daemonize --components=pkcs11,secrets,gpg
5. Click OK

Try to log out from your desktop session, once you logged in the Gnome keyring should not manage ssh agent anymore.

References

• http://askubuntu.com/questions/412793/xubuntu-stop-gnome-keyring-daemon-from-impersonating-ssh-agent
• http://dtek.net/2012/09/19/how-stop-gnome-keyring-clobbering-opensshs-ssh-agent-ubuntu-1204.html

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