HOSTS.EQUIV(5)						     Linux Programmer's Manual						    HOSTS.EQUIV(5)

NAME

       /etc/hosts.equiv - list of hosts and users that are granted "trusted" r command access to your system

DESCRIPTION

       The hosts.equiv file allows or denies hosts and users to use the r-commands (e.g., rlogin, rsh or rcp) without supplying a password.

       The file uses the following format:

       [ + | - ] [hostname] [username]

       The  hostname  is  the  name  of a host which is logically equivalent to the local host.  Users logged into that host are allowed to access
       like-named user accounts on the local host without supplying a password.  The hostname may be (optionally) preceded by a plus (+) sign.	If
       the  plus  sign is used alone it allows any host to access your system.	You can explicitly deny access to a host by preceding the hostname
       by a minus (-) sign.  Users from that host must always supply a password.  For security reasons you should always use the FQDN of the host-
       name and not the short hostname.

       The  username  entry grants a specific user access to all user accounts (except root) without supplying a password.  That means the user is
       NOT restricted to like-named accounts.  The username may be (optionally) preceded by a plus (+) sign.  You can also explicitly deny  access
       to  a  specific	user by preceding the username with a minus (-) sign.  This says that the user is not trusted no matter what other entries
       for that host exist.

       Netgroups can be specified by preceding the netgroup by an @ sign.

       Be extremely careful when using the plus (+) sign.  A simple typographical error could result in a standalone plus sign.  A standalone plus
       sign is a wildcard character that means "any host"!

FILES

       /etc/hosts.equiv

NOTES

       Some systems will only honor the contents of this file when it has owner root and no write permission for anybody else.	Some exceptionally
       paranoid systems even require that there be no other hard links to the file.

       Modern systems use the Pluggable Authentication Modules library (PAM).  With PAM a standalone plus sign is only considered a wildcard char-
       acter  which  means  "any  host"  when the word promiscuous is added to the auth component line in your PAM file for the particular service
       (e.g., rlogin).

SEE ALSO

       rhosts(5), rlogind(8), rshd(8)

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 3.44 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux								    2003-08-24							    HOSTS.EQUIV(5)