regression: ssh bash completion is unable to handle external known_hosts files

Binary package hint: bash-completion

I have a rather complicated .ssh/config and my known_hosts are split across several files. With the most recent karmic-proposed updates, I now see the following when I try to tab-complete a host (in this case, nerzo.local):

  [nick@vezza(~)] ssh ner-bash: /home/nick/.ssh/ldap_known_hosts: Permission denied
  zo.local

I believe that this actually tab completes because I have it in my core .ssh/known_hosts file. Other hosts that exist only in the ldap_known_hosts stop after the permission denied error.

The permissions of that file are suitable for the task:

  -rw-r--r-- 1 nick nick 112970 2009-11-12 14:16 /home/nick/.ssh/ldap_known_hosts

This appears to be related to http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=525293 which suggests that perhaps the bash completion module is trying to *execute* my ldap_known_hosts file (which would explain the message).

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Nov 16 09:27:00 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: bash-completion 1:1.0-3ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LC_COLLATE=C
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-15.50-generic
SourcePackage: bash-completion
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-15-generic x86_64