debug1: PEM_read_PrivateKey failed

["Santiago Flores" <santi@mleads.com>]

Hello, my apologies if I do not follow protocol, please inform me and I will
make any necessary changes.

I am having a problem with ssh on a box with mostly stable and some of the
testing updates to apache, mysql, ssh, and all dependencies (i.e. libc6).

I have done everything I can possible think of to remedy the failure I am
experiencing, which is:

debug1: Trying private key: /home/mback/mdirect3.bak.pub
debug1: PEM_read_PrivateKey failed

I have changed permissions to a number of different ways. I have tried
different users (root and mback) and tried without privilege separation,
still no go. I tried recompiling ssl (because of a bug report about ssl
compiled with gcc3.0 from over a year ago). This is beyond me. Help.

Debian Stable w/ some testing (listed above)

mdirect:/var/log# ssh -v
OpenSSH_3.6.1p2 Debian 1:3.6.1p2-9, SSH protocols 1.5/2.0, OpenSSL
0x0090703f

command I am attempting:
scp -vi /home/mback/mdirect3.bak.pub /var/temp/2003-10-16_mdirect.tbz
mback@10.0.0.15:/r/amanda/mdirect


Help please.

Thanks,

santiago