4 ms·
The original SSH server was daemonized by default, but inetd operation was always supported. The INSTALL file said this in 1995: The server is not started us
by roryirvine 1y ago
The original SSH server was daemonized by default, but inetd operation was always supported. The INSTALL file said this in 1995:
The server is not started using inetd, because it needs to generate
the RSA key before serving the connection, and this can take about a
minute on slower machines. On a fast machine, and small (breakable)
key size (< 512 bits) it may be feasible to start the server from
inetd on every connection. The server must be given "-i" flag if
started from inetd.
And, of course, SSH was designed to replace rlogin and rsh - both of which ran from inetd as standard. As you say, socket-activation of sshd is simply following very long-standing Unix practice: it's not at all novel, and there's no reason to believe that it's any more risky than any other method of running it.