Nialls Blog

As part of scratching my itch to learn Ruby I decided to create a GitHub repository for storing my code, downloaded samples and koans.  Being mainly a Subversion user I decided to use GitHub for this, simply to extend my knowledge of this popular version control system.

When setting up GitHub using the detailed instructions here I ran into an issue when testing my SSH Connection, which GitHub uses to enable secure communications between your computer and the server.  Using GitBash I entered the following command:

$ ssh -T git@github.com

$ Permission denied (publickey).

I resorted to the documentation and found the following command:

$ ssh -vT git@github.com

Using the switch -vT instructs the terminal to show debug details.  Upon reviewing this debug I noticed that the session connected successfully but when trying to authenticate with my generated public key, the files being searched for where not the same as the name I created for mines.

OpenSSH was searching the .ssh folder for one of the following public key file names:

• identity
• id_rsa
• id_dsa

To resolve this issue - I renamed the key files to id_rsa which resolved this issue for me.  There were two in the .ssh directory (id_rsa.pub and id_rsa).

So when creating an ssh key, when asked to enter a file in which to save the key - simply hit "Enter" and it will use the default settings.

HTH.

As part of my own personal development I have decided to delve into learning yet another language...Ruby.  This time though I'm going to document my progress and thoughts on my blog.

Being a developer I think it's only natural that we experiment with, not only coding in the languages we are proficient in, but also branch out to learn about what other languages have to offer and also how to go about solving the same or similar problems in those other languages.  Partly inspired by the Pragmatic Programmers "Seven Languages in Seven Weeks" I have decided to take things further with Ruby.

In order to learn the language I sought out a structured approach and came across a basic course "Programming for the Web with Ruby" on http://rubylearning.org.

The reason I chose this course and am happy to share the details is due to the fact that it not only focuses on the Ruby language itself but also on the basics of Web Application development such as using GitHib for version control, HTML5/CSS3 and other basic HTTP / Web related topics.  Obviously us more advanced web developers can skip these sections but I thought it was a nice that the author(s) of the course decided to include this material.

Anyway I'll be posting my progess as I go!

Happy coding...

Niall