With the default /etc/pam.d/sshd no login is possible. Copying /etc/pam.d/gdm to /etc/pam.d/sshd solved that problem for me.. (tested with openssh 3.5p1 and 3.5p1-r1)
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/faq.xml please verify that you really arent experiencing the problem found under chapter 4
No, I can login as user locally. And OpenSSH works as soon as I replace the portage pam.d/sshd file (at the moment I use that from gdm). So, it has to be the sshd file. It's the only file I changed to get OpenSSH working..
i'm not talking locally i mean logging in via ssh ... as for it 'having to be ssh' i highly doubt thats the source of the problem due to the fact ive never seen anyone else report with this problem ...
you're right my user hadn't a valid shell entry in /etc/passwd.. Though I have absolutly no idea how this could have happened.. Anyway, the OpenSSH (and it's pam.d/ssh) works fine...