hosts.equiv(SFF)              06 January 1993               hosts.equiv(SFF)


 Name

    hosts.equiv - list of trusted hosts

 Description

    hosts.equiv resides in directory /etc and contains a list of trusted
    hosts.  When an rlogin(TC) or rcmd(TC) or lp(C) request from such a host
    is made, and the initiator of the request is in /etc/passwd, then no
    further validity checking is done.  That is, rlogin does not prompt for a
    password, and rcmd completes successfully.  So a remote user is
    ``equivalenced'' to a local user with the same user ID when the remote
    user is in hosts.equiv.

    The format of hosts.equiv is a list of names, as in this example:

        host1
        host2

    A line consisting of a simple host name means that anyone logging in from
    that host is trusted.  The .rhosts file has the same format as
    hosts.equiv.  When user XXX executes rlogin or rcmd, the .rhosts file
    from XXX's home directory is conceptually concatenated onto the end of
    hosts.equiv for permission checking.  In the special case when the user
    is the super-user then only the /.rhosts file is checked.

    It is also possible to have two entries (separated by a single space) on
    a line of these files.  In this case, if the remote host is equivalenced
    by the first entry, then the user named by the second entry is allowed to
    log in as anyone, that is, specify any name to the -l flag (provided that
    name is in the /etc/passwd file, of course).  Thus

       laidbak ez

    allows ez to log in from laidbak as anyone.  The usual usage would be to
    put this entry in the .rhosts file in the home directory for derek.  Then
    ez may log in as derek when coming from laidbak.

 Files

    /etc/hosts.equiv
    $HOME/.rhosts

 See also

    rcmd(TC), rhosts(SFF), rlogin(TC)