NixOS / NixOS/nix.dev

"Setting up distributed builds": potentially add warning when ssh-ing to root user?

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Description

Observations
I was following along with the guide at https://nix.dev/tutorials/nixos/distributed-builds-setup.html , and I was stuck at the part asking me to run

nixos-rebuild switch --no-flake --target-host root@remotemachine

Problem
I was running into an error produced by ssh:

root@localhost: Permission denied (publickey)

Approaches
This was because I had the sshd option PermitRootLogin set to no, as per common security practice. Others may be running into this issue and have forgotten that they have this option set: it might be helpful to add a small reminder around there to have one check their options if they can't run the rebuild.

Willing to help?
I wouldn't mind!

Priorities

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Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the distributed builds setup guide at https://nix.dev/tutorials/nixos/distributed-builds-setup.html, especially the command using --target-host root@remotemachine. Check how the guide currently introduces SSH requirements, then add a reminder to check PermitRootLogin when SSH reports public-key denial. Done means the warning appears at the relevant step and explains the reported failure.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
1/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
72/100

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