RHOSTS(4)                                               RHOSTS(4)



     NAME
          rhosts - list of trusted hosts and users

     DESCRIPTION
          Each user may have a .rhosts file in his home directory.
          This file contains a list of users on other hosts in the
          network that are trusted in the following sense:  when
          making requests to access the user's system with rcp(1c),
          rlogin(1c), or rsh(1c), they are allowed to assume the
          user's identity without specifying a password.  In other
          words, the remote user has exactly the same access
          privileges on the local system that the owner of the .rhosts
          file does and this access is granted without any attempt to
          verify the remote user's identity by requiring him to enter
          a password.  The incoming request includes the user name
          that should be used on the local system.  The .rhosts file
          owned by that local user acts as a logical extension to the
          hosts.equiv(4) file when deciding whether to grant
          permission for the incoming rcp(1c), rlogin(1c), or rsh(1c)
          request.

          The .rhosts file has the same format as the hosts.equiv(4)
          file.

     NOTES
          The owner of the .rhosts file must be the user in whose home
          directory it resides.  The contents of the file will be
          disregarded if it is owned by another user.

          Special care should be taken in deciding the contents of the
          file /.rhosts. Any host or user added to this file has the
          ability to become the superuser on the local system without
          entering the password.  Note that /.rhosts are not required.

     FILES
          ~/.rhosts

     SEE ALSO
          rcp(1c), rlogin(1c), rsh(1c), hosts.equiv(4)

     ORIGIN
          4.3 BSD













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