Error when allocating PTY

[Darren Tucker]

Martin Kiepfer wrote:
> I'm working on an boot image and actually try to get an ssh server
> working on clients, booting that  image over the net.

Using what OS and what libraries?  Configured OpenSSH with what options? 
  You mentioned System.map so I'm guessing the kernel is Linux but the 
rest is not specified.

> Here is the corresponding debug output of sshd:
[...]
> debug1: Allocating pty.
> debug1: Received SIGCHLD.
> openpty: Exec format error

Some platforms use a privileged helper program to set permissions and 
perform other operations on ptys that require privileges.  I suspect 
this is also the case for yours, and that the helper is missing or broken.

 > Am I right that "openpty" is a syscall?

It's usually a library function (probably in libc but possibly elsewhere).

-- 
Darren Tucker (dtucker at zip.com.au)
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     Good judgement comes with experience. Unfortunately, the experience
usually comes from bad judgement.