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Message-ID: <011301c373b3$b4999490$c900000a@docbill002>
From: "Bill C. Riemers" <cygwin AT docbill DOT net>
To: <gsinclair AT soyabean DOT com DOT au>, "Igor Pechtchanski" <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
References: <819734548 DOT 20030904220801 AT soyabean DOT com DOT au> <Pine DOT GSO DOT 4 DOT 56 DOT 0309041240220 DOT 1861 AT slinky DOT cs DOT nyu DOT edu> <8824123 DOT 20030905193228 AT soyabean DOT com DOT au>
Subject: Re: ssh problem with $HOME
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2003 09:40:13 -0400
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> I wasn't sure what you meant by the last sentence above.  I do set
> $HOME in windows, so all apps can benefit from it, and /etc/profile
> honours that.  Why ssh feels the need to look at /etc/passwd, when it
> is documented to look at $HOME, I don't know.

Quite simple.  When you run "ssh" it calls "sshd" through a socket
connection.
sshd is running as SYSTEM.  It is unlikely that the home directory for the
$HOME
directory for SYSTEM is the same as your home directory.   Since "sshd" is a
unix
program, not a Windows program it uses the standard method of setting the
$HOME
environmental variable, which is to look it up from /etc/passwd.

For example, on the computer I'm on now, my $HOME is /home/docbill .  My
wife's $HOME is /home/olivia .  SYSTEM's $HOME is /home/SYSTEM.  So if I do:
        ssh -l olivia localhost
sshd has to find out what my wife's home directory.  Not my home directory,
nor SYSTEM's home directory.  If instead it where just to use the current
value of "$HOME", I could change it to enter my wife's account even if I did
not know her password or the Administrator's password.

                                Bill



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