1 .\" Copyright (c) 1995 Peter Tobias <tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de>
2 .\" This file may be distributed under the GNU General Public License.
3 .TH HOSTS.EQUIV 5 2003-08-24 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
5 /etc/hosts.equiv \- list of hosts and users that are granted "trusted"
6 \fBr\fP command access to your system
8 The \fBhosts.equiv\fP file allows or denies hosts and users to use
9 the \fBr\fP-commands (e.g., \fBrlogin\fP, \fBrsh\fP or \fBrcp\fP) without
12 The file uses the following format:
14 \fI[ + | \- ]\fP \fI[hostname]\fP \fI[username]\fP
16 The \fIhostname\fP is the name of a host which is logically equivalent
18 Users logged into that host are allowed to access
19 like-named user accounts on the local host without supplying a password.
20 The \fIhostname\fP may be (optionally) preceded by a plus (+) sign.
21 If the plus sign is used alone it allows any host to access your system.
22 You can explicitly deny access to a host by preceding the \fIhostname\fP
24 Users from that host must always supply a password.
25 For security reasons you should always use the FQDN of the hostname and
26 not the short hostname.
28 The \fIusername\fP entry grants a specific user access to all user
29 accounts (except root) without supplying a password.
31 user is NOT restricted to like-named accounts.
32 The \fIusername\fP may
33 be (optionally) preceded by a plus (+) sign.
34 You can also explicitly
35 deny access to a specific user by preceding the \fIusername\fP with
37 This says that the user is not trusted no matter
38 what other entries for that host exist.
40 Netgroups can be specified by preceding the netgroup by an @ sign.
42 Be extremely careful when using the plus (+) sign.
43 A simple typographical
44 error could result in a standalone plus sign.
45 A standalone plus sign is
46 a wildcard character that means "any host"!
50 Some systems will only honor the contents of this file when it has owner
51 root and no write permission for anybody else.
53 paranoid systems even require that there be no other hard links to the file.
55 Modern systems use the Pluggable Authentication Modules library (PAM).
56 With PAM a standalone plus sign is only considered a wildcard
57 character which means "any host" when the word
59 is added to the auth component line in your PAM file for
60 the particular service
61 .RB "(e.g., " rlogin ).