xref: /freebsd/lib/libcompat/4.3/rexec.3 (revision daf1cffce2e07931f27c6c6998652e90df6ba87e)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
13.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
14.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
15.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\"     @(#)rexec.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 4, 1993
36.Dt REXEC 3
37.Os BSD 4.2
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm rexec
40.Nd return stream to a remote command
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Ft int
43.Fn rexec "char **ahost" "int inport" "char *user" "char *passwd" "char *cmd" "int *fd2p"
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45.Bf -symbolic
46This interface is obsoleted by
47.Xr rcmd 3 .
48It is available from the compatibility library, libcompat.
49.Ef
50.Pp
51The
52.Fn rexec
53function
54looks up the host
55.Fa *ahost
56using
57.Xr gethostbyname 3 ,
58returning \-1 if the host does not exist.
59Otherwise
60.Fa *ahost
61is set to the standard name of the host.
62If a username and password are both specified, then these
63are used to authenticate to the foreign host; otherwise
64the environment and then the user's
65.Pa .netrc
66file in his
67home directory are searched for appropriate information.
68If all this fails, the user is prompted for the information.
69.Pp
70The port
71.Fa inport
72specifies which well-known
73.Tn DARPA
74Internet port to use for
75the connection; the call
76.Ql getservbyname(\\*qexec\\*q, \\*qtcp\\*q)
77(see
78.Xr getservent 3 )
79will return a pointer to a structure, which contains the
80necessary port.
81The protocol for connection is described in detail in
82.Xr rexecd 8 .
83.Pp
84If the connection succeeds,
85a socket in the Internet domain of type
86.Dv SOCK_STREAM
87is returned to
88the caller, and given to the remote command as
89.Em stdin
90and
91.Em stdout .
92If
93.Fa fd2p
94is non-zero, then an auxiliary channel to a control
95process will be setup, and a descriptor for it will be placed
96in
97.Fa *fd2p .
98The control process will return diagnostic
99output from the command (unit 2) on this channel, and will also
100accept bytes on this channel as being
101.Tn UNIX
102signal numbers, to be
103forwarded to the process group of the command.  The diagnostic
104information returned does not include remote authorization failure,
105as the secondary connection is set up after authorization has been
106verified.
107If
108.Fa fd2p
109is 0, then the
110.Em stderr
111(unit 2 of the remote
112command) will be made the same as the
113.Em stdout
114and no
115provision is made for sending arbitrary signals to the remote process,
116although you may be able to get its attention by using out-of-band data.
117.Sh SEE ALSO
118.Xr rcmd 3 ,
119.Xr rexecd 8
120.Sh HISTORY
121The
122.Fn rexec
123function appeared in
124.Bx 4.2 .
125.Sh BUGS
126The
127.Fn rexec
128function sends the unencrypted password across the network.
129.Pp
130The underlying service is considered a big security hole and therefore
131not enabled on many sites, see
132.Xr rexecd 8
133for explanations.
134