These are manual instructions on enabling SSH access on your Steam Deck, adding public key authentication, and removing the need for a sudo password for the main user (deck).

This gist assumes the following:

• you have a Steam Deck[[steamdeck_ssh_instructions]]
• you have a home PC with access to a Linux shell that can ssh, ssh-keygen, and ssh-copy-id
• your Steam Deck and home PC are on the same local network, with standard SSH traffic (tcp/22) allowed over that network from the PC to the Steam Deck

NOTE: @crackelf on reddit mentions that steamOS updates blow away everything other than /home, which may have the following effects:

• removing the systemd config for sshd.service, which would prevent the service from automatically starting on boot
• removing the sudoers.d config, which would reenable passwords for sudo

---

Instructions:

• On your Steam Deck, switch to "Desktop Mode" (Steam > Power > Switch to Desktop)
• On your Steam Deck, open a terminal (eg Steam Icon > System > Konsole or Steam Icon > System > fish)
• On your Steam Deck, set a temporary passwd for the current user, deck (use Steam + X On your Steam Deck to bring up the on-screen keyboard):

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ passwd
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully

• On your Steam Deck, enable and start the sshd.service (use the password above when prompted):

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ sudo systemctl enable sshd.service
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/sshd.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service.
(deck@steamdeck ~)$ sudo systemctl start sshd.service

• On your Steam Deck, determine your steamdeck’s LAN IP:

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ ip addr | grep inet | grep wlan0
    inet 192.168.1.106/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlan0

• On your PC, verify you can ssh into the Steam Deck using your password:

[andygeorge@home-pc ~]$ ssh -o PreferredAuthentications=password -o PubkeyAuthentication=no [email protected]
[email protected]'s password:
Last login: Thu Jul 21 12:51:20 2022 from 192.168.1.115
(deck@steamdeck ~)$

• On your PC, generate an SSH keypair to use for authentication, eg:

[andygeorge@home-pc ~]$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"
Generating public/private ed25519 key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/andygeorge/.ssh/id_ed25519): /home/andygeorge/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/andygeorge/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519
Your public key has been saved in /home/andygeorge/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519.pub
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:k [email protected]
The key's randomart image is:
k

This will create two files, a private SSH key file, and its corresponding public key with a .pub extension:

[andygeorge@home-pc ~]$ ls -al ~/.ssh/steamdeck*
-rw------- 1 andygeorge andygeorge 411 Jul 21 12:42 /home/andygeorge/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519
-rw-r--r-- 1 andygeorge andygeorge 100 Jul 21 12:42 /home/andygeorge/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519.pub

• On your PC, run ssh-copy-id to copy the public key of the keypair you generated above to the Steam Deck (using the password you created above):

[andygeorge@home-pc ~]$ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519.pub [email protected]
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: Source of key(s) to be installed: "/home/andygeorge/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519.pub"
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: attempting to log in with the new key(s), to filter out any that are already installed
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: INFO: 1 key(s) remain to be installed -- if you are prompted now it is to install the new keys
[email protected]'s password:

Number of key(s) added: 1

Now try logging into the machine, with:   "ssh '[email protected]'"
and check to make sure that only the key(s) you wanted were added.

• On your PC, test the SSH using key auth:

[andygeorge@home-pc ~]$ ssh -i ~/.ssh/steamdeck_ed25519 [email protected]
Last login: Thu Jul 21 13:32:25 2022 from 192.168.1.115
(deck@steamdeck ~)$

• On your Steam Deck, disable the sudo password for your deck user:

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ echo "%wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/wheel >/dev/null

• On your Steam Deck, delete your deck user’s password:

(deck@steamdeck ~)$ sudo passwd -d deck
passwd: password expiry information changed.

---

You should now be able to ssh in using key auth and sudo without a password!

Omnivore Docker Setup Guide

Overview

This guide documents the complete setup process for running Omnivore using Docker Compose, including common issues and their solutions.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• Debian GNU/Linux system
• sudo privileges

Initial Setup Steps

1. Pull Docker Images

docker compose pull

2. First Attempt to Start Services

docker compose up

Issues Encountered and Solutions

Issue 1: Database User Authentication Failed

Problem: The application services couldn’t connect to PostgreSQL because the app_user role didn’t exist.

Error Message:

error: password authentication failed for user "app_user"
FATAL: Role "app_user" does not exist

Solution:

1. Start PostgreSQL container first:

docker compose up -d postgres

2. Wait for PostgreSQL to be ready:

sleep 10

3. Create the required database user:

docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "CREATE USER app_user WITH PASSWORD 'app_pass';"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE omnivore TO app_user;"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "ALTER USER app_user CREATEDB;"

Issue 2: MinIO Bucket Creation Failed

Problem: The createbuckets container was using an outdated MinIO client command syntax.

Error Message:

mc: <ERROR> `config` is not a recognized command. Get help using `--help` flag.

Solution:

1. Update the docker-compose.yml file to use the correct MinIO client syntax:

sed -i 's/mc config host add/mc alias set/g' docker-compose.yml

2. Remove and recreate the createbuckets container:

docker compose stop createbuckets
docker compose rm createbuckets
docker compose up -d createbuckets

Issue 3: Environment Variable Updates Not Taking Effect

Problem: After updating the .env file, changes weren’t reflected in running containers.

Solution: Complete rebuild of all containers and volumes:

# Stop and remove all containers and volumes
docker compose down -v

# Rebuild all containers from scratch
docker compose up --build -d

# If database authentication fails again, recreate the app_user:
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "CREATE USER app_user WITH PASSWORD 'app_pass';"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE omnivore TO app_user;"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "ALTER USER app_user CREATEDB;"

# Restart all services
docker compose up -d

Complete Working Setup Process

Step 1: Initial Deployment

# Pull latest images
docker compose pull

# Start all services
docker compose up -d

Step 2: Fix Database Authentication (if needed)

# Create database user manually
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "CREATE USER app_user WITH PASSWORD 'app_pass';"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE omnivore TO app_user;"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "ALTER USER app_user CREATEDB;"

# Restart services
docker compose restart api queue-processor

Step 3: Fix MinIO Bucket Creation (if needed)

# Update MinIO command syntax
sed -i 's/mc config host add/mc alias set/g' docker-compose.yml

# Recreate createbuckets container
docker compose stop createbuckets
docker compose rm createbuckets
docker compose up -d createbuckets

Step 4: Verify All Services

# Check status of all containers
docker compose ps

# Check for any exited containers
docker compose ps -a

For Environment Variable Updates

When you need to update the .env file:

# Stop and remove everything
docker compose down -v

# Rebuild from scratch
docker compose up --build -d

# Recreate database user (will be needed after volume reset)
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "CREATE USER app_user WITH PASSWORD 'app_pass';"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE omnivore TO app_user;"
docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "ALTER USER app_user CREATEDB;"

# Restart all services
docker compose up -d

Final Service Overview

After successful setup, you should have these services running:

Service	Container Name	Port	Status
Web Interface	omnivore-web	3000	Running
API Backend	omnivore-api	4000	Running (Healthy)
PostgreSQL	omnivore-postgres	5432	Running (Healthy)
Redis	omnivore-redis	6379	Running (Healthy)
MinIO	ominivore-minio-1	1010	Running (Healthy)
Content Fetch	omnivore-content-fetch	9090	Running
Image Proxy	omnivore-image-proxy	7070	Running
Mail Watcher	omnivore-mail-watch-server	4398	Running
Queue Processor	omnivore-queue-processor	–	Running

Completed Tasks (will show as Exited 0):

• omnivore-migrate (Database migration)
• ominivore-createbuckets-1 (MinIO bucket setup)

Access Information

• Web Application: http://localhost:3000 (or your configured domain)
• API Endpoint: http://localhost:4000 (or your configured domain)
• Demo Login:
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Password: demo_password

Common Commands

# Check container status
docker compose ps

# View logs for specific service
docker logs <container-name>

# Restart specific service
docker compose restart <service-name>

# Stop all services
docker compose down

# Stop and remove volumes (complete reset)
docker compose down -v

# Rebuild and start
docker compose up --build -d

Troubleshooting

Container Won’t Start

1. Check logs: docker logs <container-name>
2. Verify .env file configuration
3. Ensure all dependencies are running
4. Try recreating the container: docker compose up -d <service-name>

Database Connection Issues

1. Verify PostgreSQL is running: docker compose ps postgres
2. Check if app_user exists: docker exec -it omnivore-postgres psql -U postgres -d omnivore -c "\du"
3. Recreate app_user if needed (see Step 2 above)

MinIO Issues

1. Check MinIO logs: docker logs ominivore-minio-1
2. Verify bucket creation: docker logs ominivore-createbuckets-1
3. Manually create bucket if needed:
   

   docker exec ominivore-minio-1 mc alias set myminio http://localhost:9000 minio miniominio
   docker exec ominivore-minio-1 mc mb myminio/omnivore
   

   
   

Web Interface Not Loading

1. Check if web container is running: docker compose ps web
2. Verify API is healthy: docker compose ps api
3. Check network connectivity between containers
4. Verify port mappings in docker-compose.yml

---

Note: This guide was created based on the actual deployment experience on Debian GNU/Linux with Docker Compose. The issues and solutions documented here were encountered and resolved during the setup process.

Last Updated: June 12, 2025