rexec(3)                                                       rexec(3)

  rexec

  NAME

    rexec() - return stream to a remote command

  SYNOPSIS

    int rexec (char **ahost, int inport, char *user, char *passwd,
               char *cmd, int *fd2p)

  DESCRIPTION

    The rexec(3) function looks up the host *ahost using gethostbyname(2),
    returning -1 if the host does not exist. Otherwise *ahost is set to the
    standard name of the host. If a user name and password are both specified,
    then these are used to authenticate to the foreign host; otherwise the
    environment and then the user's .netrc file in his home directory are
    searched for appropriate information. If all this fails, the user is
    prompted for the information.

    The port inport specifies which well-known DARPA Internet port to use for
    the connection; the call

    getservbyname(exec, tcp)

    (see getservent(2)) will return a pointer to a structure, which contains
    the necessary port. The protocol for connection is described in detail in
    rexecd(1).

    If the connection succeeds, a socket in the Internet domain of type
    SOCK_STREAM is returned to the caller, and given to the remote command as
    stdin and stdout. If fd2p is non-zero, then an auxiliary channel to a
    control process will be setup, and a descriptor for it will be placed in
    *fd2p. The control process will return diagnostic output from the command
    (unit 2) on this channel, and will also accept bytes on this channel as
    being standard signal numbers, to be forwarded to the process group of the
    command. The diagnostic information returned does not include remote
    authorization failure, as the secondary connection is set up after
    authorization has been verified. If fd2p is 0, then the stderr (unit 2 of
    the remote command) will be made the same as the stdout and no provision
    is made for sending arbitrary signals to the remote process, although you
    may be able to get its attention by using out-of-band data.

  USAGE NOTES

    The rexec function is thread safe.

    The rexec function is not async-signal safe.