Today I ran an automated installation using the latest amd64 install58.iso
media.
A root ssh key was specified in install.conf, and the key is being
correctly installed in /root/.ssh/authorized_keys.
This method was working fine with the 5.7 release, but apparently 5.8 now
sets 'PermitRootLogin no' in /etc/ssh/sshd_config even when a root ssh key
is specified in install.conf.
Looking through the relevant commits over the last few months [1], it
appears that the setting keeps getting 'twiddled' back and forth.
What's the long term plan for this? My preference is that root ssh pubkey
logins are allowed on reboot.
[1] http://freshbsd.org/search?project=openbsd&q=permitrootlogin
