1. Prerequisites ---------------- You will need working installations of Zlib and OpenSSL. Zlib: http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/zlib/ OpenSSL: http://www.openssl.org/ OpenSSH can utilise Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) if your system supports it. PAM is standard on Redhat and Debian Linux and on Solaris. PAM: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/pam/ If you wish to build the GNOME passphrase requestor, you will need the GNOME libraries and headers. GNOME: http://www.gnome.org/ If you are planning to use OpenSSH on a Unix which lacks a Kernel random number generator (/dev/urandom), you will need to install the Entropy Gathering Daemon (or similar). You will also need to specify the --with-egd-pool option to ./configure. EGD: http://www.lothar.com/tech/crypto/ 2. Building / Installation -------------------------- To install OpenSSH with default options: ./configure make make install This will install the OpenSSH binaries in /usr/local/bin, configuration files in /usr/local/etc, the server in /usr/local/sbin, etc. To specify a different installation prefix, use the --prefix option to configure: ./configure --prefix=/opt make make install Will install OpenSSH in /opt/{bin,etc,lib,sbin}. You can also override specific paths, for example: ./configure --prefix=/opt --sysconfdir=/etc/ssh make make install This will install the binaries in /opt/{bin,lib,sbin}, but will place the configuration files in /etc/ssh. There are a few other options to the configure script: --enable-gnome-askpass will build the GNOME passphrase dialog. You need a working installation of GNOME, including the development headers, for this to work. --with-random=/some/file allows you to specify an alternate source of random numbers (the default is /dev/urandom). Unless you are absolutly sure of what you are doing, it is best to leave this alone. --with-egd-pool=/some/file allows you to enable Entropy Gathering Daemon support and to specify a EGD pool socket. You will need to use this if your Unix does not support the /dev/urandom device (or similar). --without-askpass will disable X11 password requestor support in ssh-add 3. Configuration ---------------- The runtime configuration files are installed by in ${prefix}/etc or whatever you specified as your --sysconfdir (/usr/local/etc by default). The default configuration should be instantly usable, though you should review it to ensure that it matches your security requirements. To generate a host key, issue the following command: (replacing /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key with an appropriate path) /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -b 1024 -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key -N '' For more information on configuration, please refer to the manual pages for sshd, ssh and ssh-agent.