Glo I can't make Telnet work, halp~

[sysKin]

Hi,
I'm trying to add Telnet access to my Glo, but for some reason it doesn't work. inetd starts, ftp server works perfectly, but telnet just closes connection immediately after trying to connect.

This is what I've done:
.kobo/koboplugins.ini

Telnet On=Plugin::executeSystemCmd("/bin/sh /mnt/onboard/.kobo/telnet.sh")

Using the 14/11/2012 version of kobo plugin (great stuff, thanks!) to make this button work.

.kobo/telnet.sh

#!/bin/sh
mkdir -p /dev/pts
mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts
/usr/sbin/inetd /mnt/onboard/.kobo/inetd.conf

.kobo/inetd.conf

21 stream tcp nowait root /bin/busybox ftpd -w -S  /
23 stream tcp nowait root /bin/busybox telnetd -i

So, what can possibly make ftp work but not telnet? What's the best way to debug this?

Thanks ~

[ah-]

I'm not sure but it might be that the home folder for the user you're trying to log in as doesn't exist.

[sysKin]

Originally Posted by ah-

I'm not sure but it might be that the home folder for the user you're trying to log in as doesn't exist.

Interesting point indeed.
However, I think it's not the case (hard to be sure without actually being logged in): /etc/passwd configures root's home directory as simply /
Other guides for setting up telnet don't mention any root home directory's manipulation either.
Can you think of a way to check if home directory might be the problem?

I'm personally suspecting /dev/pts right now: the script I used creates it and mounts it, but I see fstab is *also* mounting it. Is this expected?
Using ftp, I do see /dev/pts as "/dev/pts?" (question mark in the file name). Is that expected?

[xor_]

Originally Posted by sysKin

Using ftp, I do see /dev/pts as "/dev/pts?" (question mark in the file name). Is that expected?

[root@(none) pts]# ls -l /dev/pts
total 0
crw------- 1 root root 136, 0 Dec 14 17:27 0


FWIW, I tried something similar a couple of days ago, with the same result.

The wiki page method of enabling telnet works, though. But, clearly, having a telnet server running without a root password isn't a winning long-term proposition. So I generated a password hash with mkpasswd and inserted it into /etc/passwd. (No passwd program on the box).

[sysKin]

Originally Posted by xor_

FWIW, I tried something similar a couple of days ago, with the same result.

The wiki page method of enabling telnet works, though. But, clearly, having a telnet server running without a root password isn't a winning long-term proposition. So I generated a password hash with mkpasswd and inserted it into /etc/passwd. (No passwd program on the box).

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand: are you saying that telnet didn't work, but then you added a password and it started to work? (I'm just slightly confused by the "long term" part).

My only other linux device at home is my router, let's see if it has mkpasswd...

[xor_]

Originally Posted by sysKin

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand: are you saying that telnet didn't work, but then you added a password and it started to work? (I'm just slightly confused by the "long term" part).

No, those were two different statements.

a) First I tried starting telnet through the plugin, which didn't work. Same symptom as you had, connection closing immediately.
Then I did it exactly as specified in the Wiki page, i.e., starting it through /etc/inittab. That worked.

b) In general it's not a very good idea to have a telnetd runnning without having set a root password. Imagine using your Kobo in some random open wifi spot... Big security risk. (It's still a security risk with a password, BTW, since telnet passwords are transferred unencrypted. I will try to get dropbear SSH running)

My only other linux device at home is my router, let's see if it has mkpasswd...

If you don't have it, I think openssl also has a commandline switch to do it.

[sysKin]

Originally Posted by xor_

a) First I tried starting telnet through the plugin, which didn't work. Same symptom as you had, connection closing immediately.
Then I did it exactly as specified in the Wiki page, i.e., starting it through /etc/inittab. That worked.

Ah I see, thanks. Indeed I just did the same (ftp access made it much easier) and yeah, it works.

b) In general it's not a very good idea to have a telnetd runnning without having set a root password

True... this is why I wanted it switchable from the plugin (one button to start it, one button to kill it). I'll work some more to see if I can make it happen. In the meantime, thanks!

[edit] alrighty, I think I got it: mounting /dev/pts was broken. It seems like it works great from rcS, but not when spawned from manual script (at least not the way I explained in first post).
Now that I did what the wiki says for rcS, and my .sh is just starting inetd, it works!