xref: /freebsd/lib/libcompat/4.3/rexec.3 (revision 3416500aef140042c64bc149cb1ec6620483bc44)
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28.\"     @(#)rexec.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd June 4, 1993
32.Dt REXEC 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm rexec
36.Nd return stream to a remote command
37.Sh LIBRARY
38.Lb libcompat
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Ft int
41.Fn rexec "char **ahost" "int inport" "char *user" "char *passwd" "char *cmd" "int *fd2p"
42.Sh DESCRIPTION
43.Bf -symbolic
44This interface is obsoleted by
45.Xr rcmd 3 .
46.Ef
47.Pp
48The
49.Fn rexec
50function
51looks up the host
52.Fa *ahost
53using
54.Xr gethostbyname 3 ,
55returning \-1 if the host does not exist.
56Otherwise
57.Fa *ahost
58is set to the standard name of the host.
59If a username and password are both specified, then these
60are used to authenticate to the foreign host; otherwise
61the environment and then the user's
62.Pa .netrc
63file in his
64home directory are searched for appropriate information.
65If all this fails, the user is prompted for the information.
66.Pp
67The port
68.Fa inport
69specifies which well-known
70.Tn DARPA
71Internet port to use for
72the connection; the call
73.Fn getservbyname \*qexec\*q \*qtcp\*q
74(see
75.Xr getservent 3 )
76will return a pointer to a structure, which contains the
77necessary port.
78The protocol for connection is described in detail in
79.Xr rexecd 8 .
80.Pp
81If the connection succeeds,
82a socket in the Internet domain of type
83.Dv SOCK_STREAM
84is returned to
85the caller, and given to the remote command as
86.Dv stdin
87and
88.Dv stdout .
89If
90.Fa fd2p
91is non-zero, then an auxiliary channel to a control
92process will be setup, and a descriptor for it will be placed
93in
94.Fa *fd2p .
95The control process will return diagnostic
96output from the command (unit 2) on this channel, and will also
97accept bytes on this channel as being
98.Ux
99signal numbers, to be
100forwarded to the process group of the command.
101The diagnostic
102information returned does not include remote authorization failure,
103as the secondary connection is set up after authorization has been
104verified.
105If
106.Fa fd2p
107is 0, then the
108.Dv stderr
109(unit 2 of the remote
110command) will be made the same as the
111.Dv stdout
112and no
113provision is made for sending arbitrary signals to the remote process,
114although you may be able to get its attention by using out-of-band data.
115.Sh SEE ALSO
116.Xr rcmd 3 ,
117.Xr rexecd 8
118.Sh HISTORY
119The
120.Fn rexec
121function appeared in
122.Bx 4.2 .
123.Sh BUGS
124The
125.Fn rexec
126function sends the unencrypted password across the network.
127.Pp
128The underlying service is considered a big security hole and therefore
129not enabled on many sites, see
130.Xr rexecd 8
131for explanations.
132