Bug#661585: openssh-client: ssh client no longer asks for key-file's password on command line

[Shai Berger <shai@platonix.com>]

Package: openssh-client
Version: 1:5.9p1-2
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

I have a few servers I connect to with ssh. I use a key-pair for logging in,
and the private key is password-protected.

Until recently, when I typed

$ ssh myserver

I was asked, on the terminal, for the password. Today, I was told that
the file /usr/bin/ssh-askpass was not found.

I looked at the openssh-client package, and saw that it suggests ssh-askpass.
However, that package (and all alternative packages which provide it) is
using a graphical interface, rather than a text interface.

This is a nuisance for me, and a real problem for headless systems
(when there is no DISPLAY set, the user is just not asked for the
password):

[begin session]

$ unset DISPLAY
$ echo $DISPLAY

$ ssh myserver
Permission denied (publickey).

[end session]

Thanks,
        Shai.



-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/3 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages openssh-client depends on:
ii  adduser                3.113+nmu1
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]  1.5.41
ii  dpkg                   1.16.1.2
ii  libc6                  2.13-26
ii  libedit2               2.11-20080614-3
ii  libgssapi-krb5-2       1.10+dfsg~beta1-2
ii  libselinux1            2.1.0-4.1
ii  libssl1.0.0            1.0.0g-1
ii  passwd                 1:4.1.5-1
ii  zlib1g                 1:1.2.6.dfsg-1

Versions of packages openssh-client recommends:
ii  openssh-blacklist        0.4.1
ii  openssh-blacklist-extra  0.4.1
ii  xauth                    1:1.0.6-1

Versions of packages openssh-client suggests:
ii  keychain      <none>
ii  libpam-ssh    <none>
ii  monkeysphere  <none>
ii  ssh-askpass   1:1.2.4.1-9

-- no debconf information