Index: b/readconf.c
===================================================================
--- a/readconf.c
+++ b/readconf.c
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@
 	oSendEnv, oControlPath, oControlMaster, oHashKnownHosts,
 	oTunnel, oTunnelDevice, oLocalCommand, oPermitLocalCommand,
 	oVisualHostKey, oUseRoaming, oZeroKnowledgePasswordAuthentication,
+	oProtocolKeepAlives, oSetupTimeOut,
 	oDeprecated, oUnsupported
 } OpCodes;
 
@@ -246,6 +247,8 @@
 #else
 	{ "zeroknowledgepasswordauthentication", oUnsupported },
 #endif
+	{ "protocolkeepalives", oProtocolKeepAlives },
+	{ "setuptimeout", oSetupTimeOut },
 
 	{ NULL, oBadOption }
 };
@@ -845,6 +848,8 @@
 		goto parse_flag;
 
 	case oServerAliveInterval:
+	case oProtocolKeepAlives: /* Debian-specific compatibility alias */
+	case oSetupTimeOut:	  /* Debian-specific compatibility alias */
 		intptr = &options->server_alive_interval;
 		goto parse_time;
 
@@ -1233,8 +1238,13 @@
 		options->rekey_limit = 0;
 	if (options->verify_host_key_dns == -1)
 		options->verify_host_key_dns = 0;
-	if (options->server_alive_interval == -1)
-		options->server_alive_interval = 0;
+	if (options->server_alive_interval == -1) {
+		/* in batch mode, default is 5mins */
+		if (options->batch_mode == 1)
+			options->server_alive_interval = 300;
+		else
+			options->server_alive_interval = 0;
+	}
 	if (options->server_alive_count_max == -1)
 		options->server_alive_count_max = 3;
 	if (options->control_master == -1)
Index: b/ssh_config.5
===================================================================
--- a/ssh_config.5
+++ b/ssh_config.5
@@ -128,8 +128,12 @@
 If set to
 .Dq yes ,
 passphrase/password querying will be disabled.
+In addition, the 
+.Cm ServerAliveInterval 
+option will be set to 300 seconds by default.
 This option is useful in scripts and other batch jobs where no user
-is present to supply the password.
+is present to supply the password,
+and where it is desirable to detect a broken network swiftly.
 The argument must be
 .Dq yes
 or
@@ -946,8 +950,15 @@
 will send a message through the encrypted
 channel to request a response from the server.
 The default
-is 0, indicating that these messages will not be sent to the server.
+is 0, indicating that these messages will not be sent to the server,
+or 300 if the
+.Cm BatchMode
+option is set.
 This option applies to protocol version 2 only.
+.Cm ProtocolKeepAlives
+and
+.Cm SetupTimeOut
+are Debian-specific compatibility aliases for this option.
 .It Cm SmartcardDevice
 Specifies which smartcard device to use.
 The argument to this keyword is the device
@@ -993,6 +1004,12 @@
 other side.
 If they are sent, death of the connection or crash of one
 of the machines will be properly noticed.
+This option only uses TCP keepalives (as opposed to using ssh level
+keepalives), so takes a long time to notice when the connection dies.
+As such, you probably want
+the
+.Cm ServerAliveInterval
+option as well.
 However, this means that
 connections will die if the route is down temporarily, and some people
 find it annoying.
Index: b/sshd_config.5
===================================================================
--- a/sshd_config.5
+++ b/sshd_config.5
@@ -919,6 +919,9 @@
 .Pp
 To disable TCP keepalive messages, the value should be set to
 .Dq no .
+.Pp
+This option was formerly called
+.Cm KeepAlive .
 .It Cm UseDNS
 Specifies whether
 .Xr sshd 8