DROPBEARCONVERT(1)

📦
version 2026.94 · 3 versions
, in arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

💖 dropbearconvert(1) — General Commands Manual, but make it a vibe 💖

okay bestie, sit down, we're doing key format conversions today and honestly? it's giving glow-up energy. this is the dropbearconvert page, section 1 of the General Commands Manual, and by the end of it you're gonna be converting private keys like it's nothing. no cap. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

dropbearconvert — convert between Dropbear and OpenSSH private key formats

like, that's the whole job. one job. she does it flawlessly. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

dropbearconvert input_type output_type input_file output_file

four little arguments in a row and you're done, periodt.

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea 🫖: Dropbear and OpenSSH are two different SSH implementations, and they each have their own private key formats. they do not speak the same language on that front, bestie, it's a whole thing. that's exactly why dropbearconvert exists — it converts between the two. main character of the key-format world, honestly.

the good news? Dropbear uses the same SSH public key format as OpenSSH 🎀. so you don't have to do anything fancy with the public side. you can just extract the public key straight out of a private key by using dropbearkey -y. that's it. that's the trick. iykyk.

⚠️ major heads up: Encrypted private keys are not supported. like, at all. if your key is encrypted you gotta decrypt it first using ssh-keygen(1). do not come for dropbearconvert about this, she simply does not do encrypted keys, that is not her era. 🔥

💜 ARGUMENTS 💜

  • input_type — either dropbear or openssh. that's it, those are the options. pick which flavor your incoming key is. 🌈
  • output_type — either dropbear or openssh. pick which flavor you want to walk away with. glow-up direction, basically. 💖
  • input_file — an existing Dropbear or OpenSSH private key file. the file you're converting, obvi. 🎀
  • output_file — the path to write the converted private key file to. and psst, for client authentication, ~/.ssh/id_dropbear is what gets loaded by default 👑 so if that's your goal, that's where you want her to land.

🎀 SUPPORTED FORMATS 🎀

okay this is the part where we get specific, bestie, don't zone out 💀:

  • dropbearconvert can read OpenSSH format files, and also older PEM format files (ssh-keygen -m PEM). so if your key is vintage, she can still read it. iconic of her. ⭐
  • dropbearconvert will write OpenSSH format files, which are usable with OpenSSH 6.5 and later. so if you're on something ancient, that's on you, not on her. 🙈
  • not currently supported: reading OpenSSH format DSS files, or PKCS8 files. it's not a today thing. sorry not sorry. 🦋

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

the moment you've been waiting for, the actual command 🫶:

# dropbearconvert openssh dropbear ~/.ssh/id_rsa ~/.ssh/id_dropbear

see? OpenSSH key in, Dropbear key out, into the default client auth location. ate that. 🔥

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

go read those too, they're her besties. 💖

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Matt Johnston <matt@ucc.asn.au>. the founder, the moment, the legend. slay. 💅

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one came from the Debian people, it's dated February 1, 2023, and it lives under DROPBEARCONVERT(1). go forth and convert responsibly, ily, bye!! 💖✨🎀🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from