Bug#1027000: openssh-server: sshd(8) man page: LOGIN PROCESS section is incomplete and misleading

[Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net>]

Package: openssh-server
Version: 1:9.1p1-1
Severity: minor

The "LOGIN PROCESS" section of the sshd(8) man page starts with
"When a user successfully logs in", but this is unclear. For instance,
at step 3: "Checks /etc/nologin; if it exists, prints contents and
quits (unless root)." But if it quits, why would this be considered
as a successful login?

And what about the /etc/pam.d/sshd file provided by openssh-server?
Where is it involved?

-- System Information:
Debian Release: bookworm/sid
  APT prefers unstable-debug
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
merged-usr: no
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 6.0.0-6-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=POSIX, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages openssh-server depends on:
ii  adduser                    3.129
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]      1.5.80
ii  init-system-helpers        1.64
ii  libaudit1                  1:3.0.7-1.1+b2
ii  libc6                      2.36-6
ii  libcom-err2                1.46.6~rc1-1+b1
ii  libcrypt1                  1:4.4.33-1
ii  libgssapi-krb5-2           1.20.1-1
ii  libkrb5-3                  1.20.1-1
ii  libpam-modules             1.5.2-5
ii  libpam-runtime             1.5.2-5
ii  libpam0g                   1.5.2-5
ii  libselinux1                3.4-1+b4
ii  libssl3                    3.0.7-1
ii  libsystemd0                252.4-1
ii  libwrap0                   7.6.q-31
ii  openssh-client             1:9.1p1-1
ii  openssh-sftp-server        1:9.1p1-1
ii  procps                     2:4.0.2-3
ii  runit-helper               2.15.0
ii  sysvinit-utils [lsb-base]  3.06-2
ii  ucf                        3.0043
ii  zlib1g                     1:1.2.13.dfsg-1

Versions of packages openssh-server recommends:
ii  libpam-systemd [logind]  252.4-1
ii  ncurses-term             6.3+20220423-2
ii  xauth                    1:1.1.1-1

Versions of packages openssh-server suggests:
pn  molly-guard   <none>
pn  monkeysphere  <none>
pn  ssh-askpass   <none>
pn  ufw           <none>

-- debconf information excluded

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)