Debian Environment Variables

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I began having problems on a new Debian 7 server after changing BASH Environment variables for color using some legacy files taken from an Ubuntu 12.04 server.

First Noticeable Problem

BASH scripts executed from a user as sudo = the results belonging to root. In other words, a backup script executed by troy thus:

sudo ~/backup.sh

caused the backup to be owned by root, and saved in /root/

Looking for a solution by searching “BASH environment variables” was a deadend.

Then Second Problem

The login using ssh keys stopped working

Server host key: ECDSA 96:90:66:d1:ed:d1:ad:83:1f:54
debug1: Host '[host.seleads.com]' is known and matches the ECDSA host key.
debug1: Found key in /home/user/.ssh/known_hosts:13
debug1: ssh_ecdsa_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: Roaming not allowed by server
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password

Third Problem | services stopped working

troy@host:~$ sudo service ssh status
ssh: unrecognized service

This Fixed the services problem

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/*

But the login using keys = this Error was in auth.log
sshd Authentication refused: bad ownership or modes for directory

This Fixed that problem

chmod 755 /home
chmod 755 /home/user
chmod go-w ~/
chmod 755 ~/.ssh
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

And then I lived happily ever after – all above problems were resolved.

However, I noticed that it is recommended thus:

chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

So I refreshed and voila, everything was still working fine. I cant say why Debian 7 required that circuitous route to fix (the problem ? ).

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