Re: [gentoo-user] Problems setting up sshd on an installation kernel

[Joshua Murphy <poisonbl@gmail.com>]

On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org> wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 06, 2009 at 02:48:36PM +0000, Alan Mackenzie wrote
>> Hi, folks!
>>
>> I'm trying to get sshd working on an embryonic Gentoo installation on my
>> laptop.  The reason is that I want to ssh from my nice comfy desktop
>> system into this laptop to do the rest of the installation stuff.
>>
>> The installation kernel with which I'm having problems is:
>> Linux livecd 2.6.30-gentoo-r8 #1 SMP Tue Nov 3 11:40:51 UTC 2009.
>>
>> Having started sshd on my laptop, when I do
>>
>>     ssh -lroot 192.168.2.101
>>
>> from my desktop, I get prompted for my ssh key's pass phrase, which I
>> enter.  Thereafter, nothing happens, and it continues to happen for a
>> long, long time.
>
>  Has your install gotten to the stage where you can chroot and emerge
> and unmerge.  If so, I would suggest the following...
>  1) unmerge pam.  *DO NOT LOGOUT OR REBOOT*
>  2) put the line
> sys-libs/pam
>     in /etc/portage/package.mask Create the file if it doesn't exist.
>  3) emerge shadow *BEFORE YOU LOG OUT OR REBOOT*.
>
>  Pam is an extra-high-security option that makes sense on a public
> server with lots of people being able to log in.  On a personal laptop
> it is overkill.  There was a comedy album once that was called...
> "Everything You Know Is Wrong".  That describes Pam.  The security
> settings for various services are in totally different files and
> locations than normal.
>
>  Are you still booting from the install CD? The way you are running
> sshd is not how the install manual suggests to do it.  The webpage...
> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=2
> shows that you can pass the kernel options...
>
> dosshd passwd=temppassword
>
> at bootup, where "temppassword" is a temporary password.  This allows
> you to log in by typing the temporary password.
>
> --
> Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>

None of which would affect (failing) pty allocation... while I share
the disdain for PAM, it doesn't likely do a whole lot to fix the
problem at hand.

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy