RLOGIND(8)

NAME
rlogind - remote login server

SYNOPSIS
/etc/rlogind [ -ln ]

DESCRIPTION
Rlogind is the server for the rlogin(1) program. The server provides a remote login facility with authentication based on privileged port numbers from trusted hosts.

Rlogind listens for service requests at the port indicated in the ``login'' service specification; see services(5). When a service request is received the following protocol is initiated:

1)  The server checks the client's source port. If the port is not in the range 512-1023, the server aborts the connection.

2)  The server checks the client's source address and requests the corresponding host name (see gethostbyaddr(3), hosts(5) and named(8)). If the hostname cannot be determined, the dot-notation representation of the host address is used.

Once the source port and address have been checked, rlogind proceeds with the authentication process described in rshd(8C). It then allocates a pseudo terminal (see pty(4)), and manipulates file descriptors so that the slave half of the pseudo terminal becomes the stdin , stdout , and stderr for a login process. The login process is an instance of the login(1) program, invoked with the -f option if authentication has succeeded. If automatic authentication fails, the user is prompted to log in as if on a standard terminal line. The -l option prevents any authentication based on the user's ``.rhosts'' file, unless the user is logging in as the superuser.

The parent of the login process manipulates the master side of the pseudo terminal, operating as an intermediary between the login process and the client instance of the rlogin program. In normal operation, the packet protocol described in pty(4) is invoked to provide ^S/^Q type facilities and propagate interrupt signals to the remote programs. The login process propagates the client terminal's baud rate and terminal type, as found in the environment variable, ``TERM''; see environ(7). The screen or window size of the terminal is requested from the client, and window size changes from the client are propagated to the pseudo terminal.

Transport-level keepalive messages are enabled unless the -n option is present. The use of keepalive messages allows sessions to be timed out if the client crashes or becomes unreachable.

DIAGNOSTICS
All diagnostic messages are returned on the connection associated with the stderr, after which any network connections are closed. An error is indicated by a leading byte with a value of 1.

``Try again.''
A fork by the server failed.

``/bin/sh: ...''
The user's login shell could not be started.

SEE ALSO
ruserok(3), rshd(8)

BUGS
The authentication procedure used here assumes the integrity of each client machine and the connecting medium. This is insecure, but is useful in an ``open'' environment.

A facility to allow all data exchanges to be encrypted should be present.

A more extensible protocol should be used.