rhosts(5) File Formats Manual rhosts(5)
Name
rhosts - list of hosts that are logically equivalent to the local host
Syntax
/$HOME/.rhosts
Description
The file allows a user who has an account on the local host to log in from a remote host without supplying a password. It also allows
remote copies to the local host.
If the file exists, it is located in a user's home directory. It is not a mandatory file, however.
The format of a file entry is:
hostname [username]
The hostname is the name of the remote host from which the user wants to log into the local host. The username is the user's login name on
the remote host. If you do not specify a user name, the user must have the same login name on both the remote and local hosts.
The host names listed in the file may optionally contain the local BIND domain name. For more information on BIND, see the Guide to the
BIND/Hesiod Service.
If a user is logged in to and wants to log in to a host called without supplying a password, she must:
o Have an account on
o Create a file in her home directory on
o Specify host1 ginger as an entry in the file.
If has the same login on both and she can simply specify host1 in her entry. You can allow the superuser of a remote system to log in
to your system without password protection or perform a remote copy by having a file in the root ( / ) directory, but it is not recom-
mended.
In addition to having a file, the superuser needs a terminal entry in the file for each pseudoterminal configured in the system. The
secure entry looks similar to the following:
ttyp3 none network secure
See the reference page for more information.
Examples
The following is a sample file for the user It is located in her home directory on She also has accounts on the hosts called and Her login
name on and is the same as on but her login on is
To enable to log in to from and without supplying a password, her on should contain the following entries:
machine1
system1 gordon
host3
See Also
hosts.equiv(5), ttys(5)
Introduction to Networking and Distributed System Services
rhosts(5)