I'm not sure if this is intended or not, but I just got this accidently; when quickly testing on a system which /etc/dropbear does not yet exist:
# ./dropbear -R -F -E [2417] Oct 25 20:27:56 Not backgrounding [2425] Oct 25 20:28:00 Child connection from 127.0.0.1:44185 [2425] Oct 25 20:28:00 Couldn't create new file /etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key.tmp2425: No such file or directory [2425] Oct 25 20:28:00 Exit before auth: Couldn't read or generate hostkey /etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key (now, I mkdir /etc/dropbear and try and reconnect) [2442] Oct 25 20:28:18 Child connection from 127.0.0.1:44186 [2442] Oct 25 20:28:18 Generated hostkey /etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key, fingerprint is sha1!! 29:96:..... I'd expect if /etc/dropbear did not exist, then it should be created . If not a bug, then please consider it a feature request for some time in the future :) Thanks, Steven