When you start adding your first few users to a system, you may run into some ssh-related issues. This section will discuss the possible issues in brief, and explain how to recognize and fix them.
First, we need a couple of basic definitions. Authentication is the process of verifying that you are who you claim to be. Authorization is the process of determining what you want to do and deciding whether you're allowed to do it or not. Authorization happens after authentication (the system can only decide what you are allowed to do after establishing who you are!).
Gitolite is only concerned with authorization; it does not do authentication. It leaves authentication up to an ssh server or a web server.
Tip
The HTTP mode is out of scope for this book; please consult Gitolite's online documentation to use that mode.
Once the ssh server has authenticated the user, it uses the command option in the ssh authorized keys file ($HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys...