OpenSolaris FIX: Server refused to allocate pty (SSH)

Just upgraded a friends OpenSolaris box to SNV_134 (latest available from the OpenSolaris dev repository) and after rebooting we realised we couldn’t SSH into it.

Server refused to allocate pty

DOH! This is caused by a known bug that has been around for a few builds now.

You’ll need to modify /etc/minor_perm and add the following to the bottom of the file.

clone:ptmx 0666 root sys

And what happens if your terminals don’t accept keyboard input? You could drop back into the shell *or* be lazy like me, find gText editor in your Accessories, add it to the panel and change the properties to run it as a privileged user:

pfexec gedit %U

Then run the file, open the /etc/minor_perm file, save and reboot. Make sure you change back the shortcut path 🙂