rhosts(SFF)                                                      rhosts(SFF)

 Name

    rhosts - remote equivalent users

 Description

    These files grant permission for remote users to use local user names
    without knowing the corresponding user passwords.  This is known as mak-
    ing the remote user ``equivalent'' to the local user, and is convenient,
    for example, when one person owns user names on more than one host.

    If a user's home directory contains a file named .rhosts, remote users
    specified in the file are equivalent to the local user.  Each user spe-
    cification in the file consists of the remote user host name and user
    name, separated by a space.  For security reasons, .rhosts must belong to
    the user granting the equivalence or to root, and must be writeable only
    by the user granting the equivalence. If .rhosts is writeable by other
    groups or users, the file is ignored.

    The file /etc/hosts.equiv is a list of remote hosts with matching-name
    equivalence.  The file lists remote hosts one per line.  On each host
    listed in /etc/hosts.equiv, a remote user with the same name as a local
    user is equivalent to the local user.  In effect, the users are the same
    if the names are the same.

 Files

    $HOME/.rhosts
    /etc/hosts.equiv

 Warnings

    When a system is listed in /etc/hosts.equiv, its security must be as good
    as local security.  One insecure system mentioned in /etc/hosts.equiv can
    compromise the security of an entire network.

 See also

    rcmd(TC), rcp(TC), rlogin(TC)