HOSTS.EQUIV(4)                                     HOSTS.EQUIV(4)



     NAME
          hosts.equiv - list of trusted hosts

     DESCRIPTION
          Hosts.equiv resides in directory /etc and contains a list of
          trusted hosts.  When an rlogin(1C) or rsh(1C) 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 rsh
          completes successfully.  So a remote user is
          ``equivalenced'' to a local user with the same user name
          when the remote user is in hosts.equiv.

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

                host1
                host2
                +@group1
                -@group2

          A line consisting of a simple host name means that anyone
          logging in from that host is trusted.  A line consisting of
          +@group means that all hosts in that network group are
          trusted.  A line consisting of -@group means that hosts in
          that group are not trusted.  Programs scan hosts.equiv
          linearly, and stop at the first hit (either positive for
          hostname and +@ entries, or negative for -@ entries).  A
          line consisting of a single + means that everyone is
          trusted.

          The .rhosts file has the same format as hosts.equiv.  When
          user XXX executes rlogin or rsh, the .rhosts file from XXX's
          home directory is conceptually concatenated onto the end of
          hosts.equiv for permission checking.  However, -@ entries
          are not sticky.  If a user is excluded by a minus entry from
          hosts.equiv but included in .rhosts, then that user is
          considered trusted.  In the special case when the user is
          root, 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 the
          entry

                sundown john

          in /etc/hosts.equiv allows john to log in from sundown as
          anyone.  The usual usage would be to put this entry in the



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     HOSTS.EQUIV(4)                                     HOSTS.EQUIV(4)



          .rhosts file in the home directory for bill .

          Then john may log in as bill when coming from sundown.  The
          second entry may be a netgroup, thus

                +@group1 +@group2

          allows any user in group2 coming from a host in group1 to
          log in as anyone.

     FILES
          /etc/hosts.equiv
          ~/.rhosts

     WARNING
          The references to network groups (+@ and -@ entries) in
          hosts.equiv and .rhosts are only supported when the netgroup
          file is supplied by the Yellow Pages.

     SEE ALSO
          rlogin(1c), rsh(1c), netgroup(4), rhosts(4)

     ORIGIN
          Sun Microsystems, with changes for Silicon Graphics, Inc.































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