rlogin

Remote login to another host

TLDR

Log in to a remote host

$ rlogin [remote_host]

Log in with a specific username

$ rlogin -l [username] [remote_host]

Use a custom escape character instead of the default tilde

$ rlogin -e [^] [remote_host]

Force IPv4 connection

$ rlogin -4 [remote_host]

Allow 8-bit data (for non-ASCII locales)

$ rlogin -8 [remote_host]

SYNOPSIS

rlogin [-468DEd] [-e char] [-i localname] [-l username] host

rlogin starts a terminal session on a remote host using Berkeley's rhosts authorization mechanism. It reads ~/.rhosts and /etc/hosts.equiv to decide whether to permit passwordless login from trusted accounts.The escape character (default ~), when typed as the first character on a line, enables special actions: ~. disconnects, ~^Z suspends the session, and ~~ sends a literal tilde. The remote terminal type and window size are propagated from the local environment.

PARAMETERS

-4

Use IPv4 addresses only.

-6

Use IPv6 addresses only.

-8

Allow an eight-bit input data path at all times; otherwise parity bits are stripped.

-D

Set the TCP_NODELAY socket option to improve interactive response.

-d

Turn on socket debugging (SO_DEBUG) on the TCP sockets used for communication.

-E

Stop any character from being recognized as an escape character.

-e char

Set the escape character (default: ~). A literal character, or \\nnn for octal.

-i localname

Specify a different local name to be used for authentication.

-l username

Specify a different username for the remote login (default: current user).

CAVEATS

Deprecated and insecure: rlogin transmits credentials, commands, and session data in plaintext over the network, making it trivial to sniff passwords and hijack sessions. The rhosts trust mechanism is also vulnerable to spoofing. Most modern distributions ship it disabled or omit it entirely. Use [ssh](/man/ssh)(1) instead for any remote login purpose.

HISTORY

Originated in 4.2BSD (1983) as part of the Berkeley "r-commands" suite (rlogin, rsh, rcp). Widely deployed throughout the 1980s and 1990s on Unix networks before being superseded by ssh in the late 1990s due to its lack of encryption. On Linux it is typically provided by GNU inetutils.