remsh host1 passwd user1

[jerry1]

Why does "remsh host1 passwd user1" not work?

# remsh host1 passwd user1

#


Then nothing. ???

[Steven Schweda · Accepted solution]

Perhaps because "passwd" expects to interact
with the user, and it can't do that in this
context.

"man remsh":

[...] remsh cannot be
used to run commands that require a terminal interface (such as vi) or
commands that read their standard error (such as more). In such
cases, use rlogin or telnet instead (see rlogin(1) and telnet(1)).

[mobidyc]

Hello,

because according to the man page, the command is:
remsh hostname [ -n ] [ -l username ] command

so you can do:
# remsh host1 -l user1 "uname -a"

on host1, the home directory of user1 must contain a .rhosts file, this file can have these informations:
remote_host user1

you must also verify that the daemon is running:
# ps -ef |grep remsh |grep -v grep
root 11056 2395 0 Mar 12 ? 0:00 remshd

you can read remsh(1) for more informations.

Regards,
Cedrick Gaillard

[Steven Schweda]

It's easier to turn off the echo on /dev/tty
than it is on stdin?

[Steven Schweda]

mobidyc:

It may be confusing at first, but:

remsh = remsh
hostname = host1
[ -n ] (not used)
[ -l username ] (not used)
command = passwd user1

It's the "passwd" command which is not doing
what he expected, not "remsh".

"passwd user1" could have been quoted to make
it clearer.

[jerry1]

Can't use rlogin to pass a command.

Basically, I need to setup something
for the helpdesk to run remote password
changes on old 10.20 boxes that are not
NIS bound. I remember doing something
like this in the past but it was with
Solaris 2.6.

I may have to use "expect" or if someone
has a perl script that would do the same.

[mobidyc]

Sorry,

i use to quote my commands after a remsh/rsh, i though passwd was an arguments to remsh 0o.

you can't launch an interactive command from rsh/remsh.

you can crypt your passwd and modify the /etc/paswd file for changing password on multiple servers, and you can do it more secure by using ssh.

Regards,
Cedrick Gaillard

[Steven Schweda]

> Basically, I need to setup something [...]

Frequently, it helps to provide the actual
problem which you are trying to solve, rather
than asking how to debug the implementation
of a proposed solution to that problem.

In this case, I can tell you why your attempt
failed, but not how to do what you want. I'd
be a little amazed if "expect" could do the
job either, but I've been amazed before.

[Steven Schweda]

A Google search for things like:
passwd expect script
seems to turn up more than a few examples, so
it must be a popular technique, contrary to
my initial expectations. Trust no one, I
always say. Especially me.