NAME
rexec - return stream to a remote command

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

DESCRIPTION
Rexec looks up the host *ahost using gethostbyname(3), returning -1
if the host does not exist. Otherwise *ahost is set to the
standard name of the host. If a username 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(3)) will return a pointer to a structure, which
contains the necessary port. The protocol for connection is
described in detail in rexecd(8).

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 UNIX
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.