Load SSH keys via Kwallet

This quick tip was tested on openSUSE Tumbleweed. However, it will probably work for other Linux distributions running KDE Plasma.

Install ksshaskpass5 via Zypper.

sudo zypper in --details ksshaskpass5

Create the .desktop file that will be automatically parsed at KDE Plasma start-up. Add all the needed keys using ssh-add -q. The “q” here stands for quiet.

vim ~/.config/autostart/ssh-add.desktop

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[Desktop Entry]
Exec=ssh-add -q /home/user_name/.ssh/key1 /home/user_name/.ssh/key2 < /dev/null
Icon=dialog-scripts
Name=ssh-add.sh
Type=Application
X-KDE-AutostartScript=true

For the Exec command, I’ve used the /home/user_name/ path because ~ or $HOME did not work as expected.

Create another script in ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/ to set the environment variable SSH_ASKPASS to use ksshaskpass.

vim ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/ksshaskpass.sh

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#!/bin/sh
export SSH_ASKPASS='/usr/libexec/ssh/ksshaskpass'

Now reboot the machine. In the next login, a dialogue window asking for your SSH key password will appear for each added key.
Ensure to mark the option “Remember password”.