[plug] Debian: no telnet access after stable -> testing upgrade

[Denis Brown]

Dear Plug members,

Have upgraded a Debian "stable" box to "testing" using apt-get method by 
pointing sources.list to the "testing" branch.  All seemed to go fine 
including post-upgrade question/answer session however I can no longer 
telnet into the box.   Attempts to telnet are met with
telnetd: /usr/sbin/login   file not found.

Could not locate any reference to this path in the inetd.conf file but 
located a "login" executable in /usr/bin/login so created a symlink to it 
in the /usr/sbin directory and hey presto, telnet presents a "login:" 
prompt and asks for username/password.  Entering this info correctly 
results in access denied (ie. bad password) but can log in okay at the 
console with the same data.  Obvious things like caps-lock checked :-)

Unable to find anything related on the Debian site.  Logs such as auth.log, 
daemon.log and so on are not helpful and the "faillog" file cat's to 
screens full of ^@ symbols.

Questions:
1. Where would I find reference to the login executable path, if not in 
something like inetd.conf?
2. If it is okay to use the symlink, what could be preventing 
authentication for a normal user?
3.  The "faillog" file...  Is it appropriate to "cat" this file or should 
some other programme be used to explore it?

Thoughts appreciated!
TIA,
Denis