Bug#699693: "Illegal instruction" when installing (creating certificate) with Wheezy's version 1:6.0p1-3 of openssh-server on a system with Cyrix MII / IBM 6x86
Package: openssh-server
Version: 1:6.0p1-3
Hello!
When trying a new Wheezy install on a machine with Cyrix MII / IBM 6x86
CPU, openssh-server cannot complete it's install routine because the
creation of the default certificate fails reproducibly ith the result
"illegal instruction".
It seems as if the package is compiled with some optimisation not
suitable for regular Pentium machine.
I suggest checking the compilation options, as encryption is a basic
requirement of any system and should not be privileged to most recent
processors. SSL and/or SSH failing at install time even prevents
establishing a secure remote connection to take care of the problem.
Expected behaviour: installation / certificate ceration succeeds, as
Debian should be able of being installed on any Pentium or (with manual
work) even on a 486 machine. The MII/6x86 is supposed to be similar to a
Pentium Pro by its instruction set, and from my experience, anything
optimised for "686" is able to run on this CPU.
WORKAROUND: Using openssh-server 1:5.5p1-6+squeeze2 allows installation
completion.
THEORETICAL DANGER: Maybe this "illegal instruction" problem can also
occur on more recent CPUs when performing a new Debian installation /
certificate creation and is possibly "hidden" as long as existing
certificates are present!
Please resolve this problem by removing "special" optimisations or by
providing a separate package for "older" processors.
Best regards,
Hans-Juergen Mauser
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