openssh unix dev - Sep 2023 - Two big flaws in the `configure` script -- have located them, cannot fix

Hi there,

I'm trying to install OpenSSH and have run into two different things
that cause the `configure` script to come to a violent halt.  The
first is caused by the zlib version check; zlib 1.3 has only two
components in its version number and so fails the test for "exactly
three or exactly four" such components.  I am not an M4 programmer and
cannot figure out how to both edit the code and have the change
actually take effect.

Luckily for me, you include a switch to bypass the check, but it's
still very irritating.

The second problem is more serious.  While I can find no reason for
the code that checks the OpenSSL library version to fail, it
nevertheless is failing; it keeps whining about not being able to find
the version number, when it's right there in the same place the script
is looking for it.  I have no idea why that would happen, but I can't
compile OpenSSH because of this seeming brain damage in the execution
of the configure script.

I hope you folks have better luck investigating this than I've had.

Sincerely,
Gordon Steemson
-- 
The world?s only gsteemso

On Thu, 7 Sept 2023 at 15:07, Gordon Steemson <gsteemso at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I'm trying to install OpenSSH and have run into two different things
> that cause the `configure` script to come to a violent halt.  The
> first is caused by the zlib version check; zlib 1.3 has only two
> components in its version number and so fails the test for "exactly
> three or exactly four" such components.
This was fixed after the last release
(https://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/commit/cb4ed12)
a couple of days after the zlib release.
> The second problem is more serious.  While I can find no reason for
> the code that checks the OpenSSL library version to fai[...]
> I hope you folks have better luck investigating this than I've had.
That's unlikely since you have not provided any details that might
allow us to do so, including but not limited to: what the error
message was,
the OS/platform, compiler, OpenSSL implementation and version,
configure options, CFLAGS/LDFLAGS, what the config.log contained.

-- 
Darren Tucker (dtucker at dtucker.net)
GPG key 11EAA6FA / A86E 3E07 5B19 5880 E860  37F4 9357 ECEF 11EA A6FA
    Good judgement comes with experience. Unfortunately, the experience
usually comes from bad judgement.