openssh 5.1p1-3 / ssh-host-config dependency and permission issues

[Karl Herrick <karl dot herrick at millbrookprinting dot com>]

The scope of this post is have an OpenSSH server running on top of 
Windows XP Professional without dependency errors or permission issues 
during the setup.

On 2008-06-28 a system was installed from scratch with the following specs:

  Windows XP Professional SP2
  setup.exe 2.573.2.2
  OpenSSH 4.7p1-2 and the associated dependencies

Today when trying to build a similar system,

  Windows XP Professional SP3
  setup.exe 2.573.2.3
  OpenSSH 5.1p1-3 and the associated dependencies

two problems are encountered:

1. An error is received in regard to diffutils not being installed when 
running ssh-host-config:
*** ERROR: Could not find or execute required program cmp.
*** ERROR: Please install diffutils

2. Various permission errors arise while running ssh-host-config:
*** Warning: The file /etc/passwd is not readable by all.
*** Warning: Please run 'chmod +r /etc/passwd'.
*** Warning: The file /etc/group is not readable by all.
*** Warning: Please run 'chmod +r /etc/group'.
*** ERROR: Problem with LocalSystem or Adminstrator IDs

and separately after rerunning ssh-host-config:

*** Warning: The permissions on the directory /var are not correct.
*** Warning: They must match the regexp d..x..x..[xt]
*** ERROR: Problem with /var directory. Exiting.

Four questions:

1. Should diffutils automatically be installed as a dependency of 
openssh so that this error doesn't come up in regard to it not being 
installed while running ssh-host-config?

2. Should these permissions be different on a default cygwin install so 
that openssh can be installed and ssh-host-config can be executed 
without permission errors?

3. Is it safe to make the necessary permission changes to the various 
files and directores (/etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /var) that openssh is 
requesting changes to in order to "force" it to work?

4. If indeed these issues are due to a bug, are there appropriate places 
to file necessary bug reports in order to keep track of if/when they 
will be resolved?

Thanks for your time and consideration of these issues that have been 
noticed.

---

Reproduce steps:

1. Download setup.exe version 2.573.2.3 and place into "C:\cygwin-install\".
2. Go through the setup wizard with defaults except:
2.a Select a mirror.
2.b Click once on the "Net/openssh" package (at the time of this post it 
indicates it will install version 5.1p1-3 and the associated dependencies).
3. Execute "C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat".
4. Within the newly launched shell, execute "ssh-host-config".

The following is returned:

######################
$ ssh-host-config
*** Info: Generating /etc/ssh_host_key
*** Info: Generating /etc/ssh_host_rsa_key
*** Info: Generating /etc/ssh_host_dsa_key
*** ERROR: Could not find or execute required program cmp.
*** ERROR: Please install diffutils
######################

5. Close the shell and launch "C:\cygwin-install\setup.exe".
6. Go through the setup wizard with defaults except:
6.a Click once on the "Utils/diffutils" package (at the time of this 
post it indicates it will install version 2.8.7-1 and the associated 
dependencies).
7. Execute "C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat".
8. Within the newly launched shell, execute "ssh-host-config".
9. Answer "yes" to the "Should privilege separation be used? (yes/no)" 
query.

The following is returned:

######################
*** Warning: The file /etc/passwd is not readable by all.
*** Warning: Please run 'chmod +r /etc/passwd'.
*** Warning: The file /etc/group is not readable by all.
*** Warning: Please run 'chmod +r /etc/group'.
*** ERROR: Problem with LocalSystem or Adminstrator IDs
######################

10. Within the shell, exectue "chmod +r /etc/passwd".
11. Within the shell, exectue "chmod +r /etc/group".
12. Within the shell, execute "ssh-host-config".
13. Answer "yes" to the "Overwrite existing /etc/ssh_config file? 
(yes/no)" query.
14. Answer "yes" to the "Overwrite existing /etc/sshd_config file? 
(yes/no)" query.
15. Answer "yes" to the "Should privilege separation be used? (yes/no)" 
query.

The following is returned:

######################
*** Warning: The permissions on the directory /var are not correct.
*** Warning: They must match the regexp d..x..x..[xt]
*** ERROR: Problem with /var directory. Exiting.
######################

16. Within the shell, execute "ls -ld /var"

The following is returned:

######################
drwxrwx---+ 8 ladmin Users 0 Oct  7 11:38 /var
######################

17. Within the shell, execute "chmod o+x /var"
18. Within the shell, execute "ssh-host-config".
19. Answer "yes" to the "Overwrite existing /etc/ssh_config file? 
(yes/no)" query.
20. Answer "yes" to the "Overwrite existing /etc/sshd_config file? 
(yes/no)" query.
21. Answer "yes" to the "Should privilege separation be used? (yes/no)" 
query.
22. Answer "yes" to the "new local account 'sshd'? (yes/no)" query.
23. Answer "yes" to the "Do you want to install sshd as a service? (Say 
"no" if it is already installed as a service) (yes/no)" query.
24. Press the "Enter" key in regard to the "Enter the value of CYGWIN 
for the daemon: [ntsec]" query.
25. Within the shell, execute "cygrunsrv -S sshd"
26. Completing the setup via "ssh-user-config" etc...

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