How To Install yubikey-agent on Debian 12

Learn how to install yubikey-agent on Debian 12 with this tutorial. yubikey-agent is seamless ssh agent for YubiKeys

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install yubikey-agent on Debian 12.

What is yubikey-agent

yubikey-agent is:

yubikey-agent is an easy to use ssh-agent for YubiKeys, written in Go. The key is generated on the YubiKey and can’t be extracted. Every session requires the PIN, every login requires a touch. The setup takes care of the PUK and the management key.

There are three methods to install yubikey-agent on Debian 12. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install yubikey-agent Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install yubikey-agent using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install yubikey-agent

Install yubikey-agent Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install yubikey-agent using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install yubikey-agent

Install yubikey-agent Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install yubikey-agent using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install yubikey-agent

How To Uninstall yubikey-agent on Debian 12

To uninstall only the yubikey-agent package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove yubikey-agent

Uninstall yubikey-agent And Its Dependencies

To uninstall yubikey-agent and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 12, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove yubikey-agent

Remove yubikey-agent Configurations and Data

To remove yubikey-agent configuration and data from Debian 12 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge yubikey-agent

Remove yubikey-agent configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove yubikey-agent configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge yubikey-agent

Dependencies

yubikey-agent have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install yubikey-agent package on Debian 12 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.