source: trunk/third/openssh/OVERVIEW @ 16801

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1[Note: This file has not been updated for OpenSSH versions after
2OpenSSH-1.2 and should be considered OBSOLETE.  It has been left in
3the distribution because some of its information may still be useful
4to developers.]
5
6This document is intended for those who wish to read the ssh source
7code.  This tries to give an overview of the structure of the code.
8     
9Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
10Updated 17 Nov 1995.
11Updated 19 Oct 1999 for OpenSSH-1.2
12Updated 20 May 2001 note obsolete for > OpenSSH-1.2
13
14The software consists of ssh (client), sshd (server), scp, sdist, and
15the auxiliary programs ssh-keygen, ssh-agent, ssh-add, and
16make-ssh-known-hosts.  The main program for each of these is in a .c
17file with the same name.
18
19There are some subsystems/abstractions that are used by a number of
20these programs.
21
22  Buffer manipulation routines
23     
24    - These provide an arbitrary size buffer, where data can be appended.
25      Data can be consumed from either end.  The code is used heavily
26      throughout ssh.  The basic buffer manipulation functions are in
27      buffer.c (header buffer.h), and additional code to manipulate specific
28      data types is in bufaux.c.
29
30  Compression Library
31 
32    - Ssh uses the GNU GZIP compression library (ZLIB).
33
34  Encryption/Decryption
35
36    - Ssh contains several encryption algorithms.  These are all
37      accessed through the cipher.h interface.  The interface code is
38      in cipher.c, and the implementations are in libc.
39
40  Multiple Precision Integer Library
41
42    - Uses the SSLeay BIGNUM sublibrary.
43    - Some auxiliary functions for mp-int manipulation are in mpaux.c.
44
45  Random Numbers
46
47    - Uses arc4random() and such.
48
49  RSA key generation, encryption, decryption
50
51    - Ssh uses the RSA routines in libssl.
52
53  RSA key files
54
55    - RSA keys are stored in files with a special format.  The code to
56      read/write these files is in authfile.c.  The files are normally
57      encrypted with a passphrase.  The functions to read passphrases
58      are in readpass.c (the same code is used to read passwords).
59
60  Binary packet protocol
61
62    - The ssh binary packet protocol is implemented in packet.c.  The
63      code in packet.c does not concern itself with packet types or their
64      execution; it contains code to build packets, to receive them and
65      extract data from them, and the code to compress and/or encrypt
66      packets.  CRC code comes from crc32.c.
67
68    - The code in packet.c calls the buffer manipulation routines
69      (buffer.c, bufaux.c), compression routines (compress.c, zlib),
70      and the encryption routines.
71
72  X11, TCP/IP, and Agent forwarding
73
74    - Code for various types of channel forwarding is in channels.c.
75      The file defines a generic framework for arbitrary communication
76      channels inside the secure channel, and uses this framework to
77      implement X11 forwarding, TCP/IP forwarding, and authentication
78      agent forwarding.
79      The new, Protocol 1.5, channel close implementation is in nchan.c
80
81  Authentication agent
82
83    - Code to communicate with the authentication agent is in authfd.c.
84
85  Authentication methods
86
87    - Code for various authentication methods resides in auth-*.c
88      (auth-passwd.c, auth-rh-rsa.c, auth-rhosts.c, auth-rsa.c).  This
89      code is linked into the server.  The routines also manipulate
90      known hosts files using code in hostfile.c.  Code in canohost.c
91      is used to retrieve the canonical host name of the remote host.
92      Code in match.c is used to match host names. 
93
94    - In the client end, authentication code is in sshconnect.c.  It
95      reads Passwords/passphrases using code in readpass.c.  It reads
96      RSA key files with authfile.c.  It communicates the
97      authentication agent using authfd.c.
98
99  The ssh client
100
101    - The client main program is in ssh.c.  It first parses arguments
102      and reads configuration (readconf.c), then calls ssh_connect (in
103      sshconnect.c) to open a connection to the server (possibly via a
104      proxy), and performs authentication (ssh_login in sshconnect.c).
105      It then makes any pty, forwarding, etc. requests.  It may call
106      code in ttymodes.c to encode current tty modes.  Finally it
107      calls client_loop in clientloop.c.  This does the real work for
108      the session.
109
110    - The client is suid root.  It tries to temporarily give up this
111      rights while reading the configuration data.  The root
112      privileges are only used to make the connection (from a
113      privileged socket).  Any extra privileges are dropped before
114      calling ssh_login.
115
116  Pseudo-tty manipulation and tty modes
117
118    - Code to allocate and use a pseudo tty is in pty.c.  Code to
119      encode and set terminal modes is in ttymodes.c.
120
121  Logging in (updating utmp, lastlog, etc.)
122
123    - The code to do things that are done when a user logs in are in
124      login.c.  This includes things such as updating the utmp, wtmp,
125      and lastlog files.  Some of the code is in sshd.c.
126
127  Writing to the system log and terminal
128
129    - The programs use the functions fatal(), log(), debug(), error()
130      in many places to write messages to system log or user's
131      terminal.  The implementation that logs to system log is in
132      log-server.c; it is used in the server program.  The other
133      programs use an implementation that sends output to stderr; it
134      is in log-client.c.  The definitions are in ssh.h.
135
136  The sshd server (daemon)
137
138    - The sshd daemon starts by processing arguments and reading the
139      configuration file (servconf.c).  It then reads the host key,
140      starts listening for connections, and generates the server key.
141      The server key will be regenerated every hour by an alarm.
142
143    - When the server receives a connection, it forks, disables the
144      regeneration alarm, and starts communicating with the client.
145      They first perform identification string exchange, then
146      negotiate encryption, then perform authentication, preparatory
147      operations, and finally the server enters the normal session
148      mode by calling server_loop in serverloop.c.  This does the real
149      work, calling functions in other modules.
150     
151    - The code for the server is in sshd.c.  It contains a lot of
152      stuff, including:
153        - server main program
154        - waiting for connections
155        - processing new connection
156        - authentication
157        - preparatory operations
158        - building up the execution environment for the user program
159        - starting the user program.
160
161  Auxiliary files
162
163    - There are several other files in the distribution that contain
164      various auxiliary routines:
165        ssh.h        the main header file for ssh (various definitions)
166        getput.h     byte-order independent storage of integers
167        includes.h   includes most system headers.  Lots of #ifdefs.
168        tildexpand.c expand tilde in file names
169        uidswap.c    uid-swapping
170        xmalloc.c    "safe" malloc routines
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