"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
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- 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