Unable to SSH into a remote Mac: ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

When attempting to SSH into a remote Mac running 10.10.5, Terminal returned the following error:

ssh_exchange_identification; Connection closed by remote host

On the target machine we checked the Console log and found that during each SSH login attempt an error would appear in the log:

sshd: fatal: /var/empty must be owned by root and not group or world-writable.

We changed the ownership on the /var/empty folder:

sudo chown -R root:staff /var/empty

And we were then able to SSH to the remote computer.

Error opening terminal: xterm-256color

After opening a remote ssh session to Lion and Mountain Lion clients and attempting to launch pico (I know, I know, "real men use vi") I get the following error:

"Error opening terminal: xterm-256color"

Here is the fix (must be run from Terminal on the machine itself):

• Open Terminal
• Type "pico ~/.profile" (if it doesn't exist go ahead and create it)
• Enter the lines:
• TERM="xterm"
• export TERM

• Exit and save

ssh to the computer again and when you launch pico it should now open