Resources for Debian developers

How can I protect my @debian.org address from spam ?

Please read http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/12/msg00010.html and http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/12/msg00011.html

Is there a way to connect to Debian servers if the SSH port is firewalled?

The machine ssh.debian.org runs a SSH server on port 443 (usually the "https" port). If your firewall gives you access to this port (or if a proxy does it for you), then you can connect to your account. If you plan to use this access to connect to other Debian hosts, please don't run an ssh-agent on the server and don't put your private SSH keys over there. Instead you're strongly advised to customize your ~/.ssh/config file and create special entries to connect to other Debian machines.

Direct access to external machines via port 443 allowed

With the sample config below, you can do "ssh master.over443" to connect to master.debian.org via Debian's SSH server running on port 443.

Host ssh.debian.org
    Port 443
    ForwardAgent no
    ForwardX11 no
    User <your_debian_login>
    IdentityFile <path to your private SSH key>

Host *.over443
    User <your_debian_login>
    IdentityFile <path to your private SSH key>
    ProxyCommand ssh -q -a -p 443 -x ssh.debian.org -W $(basename %h .over443):%p
    ForwardAgent no
    ForwardX11 no

Note: Make sure that no netcat (nc) processes will be left on the server. The '-q2' parameter should avoid this but having a close look that everything works as expected keeps admins happy.

Direct access forbidden, going through a proxy

If you have to go through an https proxy, you can install the connect-proxy package and use something like this in your ~/.ssh/config:

Host ssh.debian.org
    ProxyCommand connect-proxy -H <proxy>:<port> ssh.debian.org 443
    ForwardAgent no
    ForwardX11 no

Host *.over443
    ProxyCommand ssh -q -a -p 443 -x ssh.debian.org -W $(basename %h .over443):%p
    ForwardAgent no
    ForwardX11 no

(Reference: RT ticket #69)

How do I disable password-based SSH access?

There is no need to disable password-based access, as password based access was disabled as announced in this D-D-A. Just randomize your password using the lost password procedure and throw away the email that you get.