FYI: ssh-keygen now takes several hours on mac68k (for 2048-bit keys)

Yes, it's mentioned in FAQ 4.12.3 that this step may take a while ("A
SPARCStation2 or a Macintosh Quadra may take 45 minutes or more to
complete the three ssh-keygen(1) steps, some machines will take even
longer."), but with the recent change (which will be in 3.8) to use
2048-bit keys by default (instead of 1024), ssh-keygen now takes much
longer to run.

On my Quadra 605 with a 25MHz 68040 and 36MB RAM, generating a
1024-bit DSA key takes around 10 minutes.  A 2048-bit DSA key takes
252 minutes!  The RSA keys don't take nearly as long (10 min for
2048-bit, 1:15 for 1024-bit), but the default configuration expects
all three types of keys, so you should generate all three.

Thus, unless you feel like waiting several hours for your installation
to finish its initial boot, I recommend doing one of the following:

* Generate the keys on a faster machine and copy them into /etc/ssh/
on your mac68k box.  The appropriate syntax is in /etc/rc, grep for
"ssh-keygen"; change the output directory so you don't clobber the
host keys on that system.  Note that on 3.7 and earlier, 1024-bit keys
are generated by default, so you may want to add a "-b 2048" parameter
if you really want 2048-bit keys.

* Manually generate 1024-bit keys: Boot the box in single-user mode
after install, mount your partitions rw, and manually invoke
ssh-keygen with the same parameters as in /etc/rc, except adding "-b
1024".  If you do this, be willing to accept the security tradeoffs of
using shorter keys.

Personally, I chose 1024-bit keys, as the box is behind a firewall
already and is only ever accessed from my LAN.  Logons are also much
faster with 1024-bit keys (~15 seconds as opposed to ~30 seconds).

Only you can choose the method right for you, but you probably will
prefer either to waiting four hours.


-Andrew