FiSH Connection fails : mc freezing

[Hans Peter Stroebel <hpstr operamail com>]

Hi,

I cannot connect with mc to any host using the fish virtual file system over 
ssh, as mc freezes when requesting the user`s password.

The ftp VFS works, the password is requested in a mc pop-up window, the fish 
password instead seems to be requested from the shell, sometimes messing up a 
bit the mc main screen :

After entering for example "cd /#sh:hpstr localhost", the line "fish: Waiting 
for initial line...       hpstr localhost`s password:" appears, the remote 
host logs a ssh connection attempt, but I can`t enter any password as mc 
freezes.

All hosts know the ssh keys of each other, so thet the connection attempt is 
not disturbed by the first time question to accept the host`s key.

When killing mc, the following lines appear in /var/log/auth.log (this was a 
connection attempt to localhost) :

Sep 29 13:25:05 test sshd[5202]: Connection closed by 127.0.0.1
Sep 29 13:25:05 test PAM_unix[5202]: (ssh) session closed for user hpstr
Sep 29 13:25:05 test sshd[5202]: PAM pam_putenv: delete non-existent entry; 
MAIL

The system that i mainly tried on is running Debian potato, Kernel 2.2.19 
with the Openwall patch, Debian packages ssh 2.3.0p1-0.11, mc 4.5.42-11 and 
bash 2.03-6.

As the Openwall patch restricts file operations in /tmp, I tested on another 
plain vanilla potato system with the original Debian Kernel 2.2.17, same 
result. A newer mc version from debian testing/unstable (don`t remember the 
version) : same result.

Searching Google and the mc mailing list archives didn`t give me any clue.

Do I have to use any compile time options (found nothing documented), or what 
could be the problem ?
Not only solutions, but any tips to hunt down the problem are welcome, too.

Could someone running mc and ssh maybe check if it works his system ?
(Simply type "cd /#sh:username localhost" in the mc shell).

Thanks for any hints in advance,

Greetings from Germany

-- 

Hans Peter Stroebel <hpstr operamail com>

Yes, I do. But not Yahoo.