rpc.rexd source for Linux?

rpc.rexd source for Linux?

[Dan Kegel]

I fondly remember using 'on' to execute programs remotely back on SunOS in
1985.
In a closed lab environment with lots of computers, it's quite nice;
the main difference between it and 'rsh' is that it tried harder to
reproduce the local environment, bringing across all the environment
variables. 
rpc.rexd was, of course, promiscuously and infamously insecure.  
(Sun has, I hope, improved its security since then...)

18 years later, I'm in a situation where that functionality
would be very handy: cross-development.  I can happily build
a glibc for embedded processors on my workstation, but glibc's
regression test isn't written to allow remote execution.

Kaz Kojima recently posted source code that wraps execve; 
the wrapper examines the binary being executed, and if it can't 
be run on the local CPU because it's for a different architecture, 
runs it remotely using a homebrew on/rpc.rexd sort of thing.
This would make running the glibc regression test for an alien architecture
easy.

That got me thinking -- why not add that execve wrapper to Linux's
native NFS package?  Then I went looking, and discovered that 
(perhaps wisely) Linux's NFS package doesn't include 'on' or 'rpc.rexd'.

Larry McVoy has something that looks a lot like 'on' to the user, but
(again perhaps wisely) it isn't based on RPC internally.  (see
'bitcluster'.)

So, if only for nostalgia's sake, does anyone know of a re-implementation
of Sun's rpc.rexd service for Linux?

Thanks,
Dan


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Re: rpc.rexd source for Linux?

[Bogdan Costescu]

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003, Dan Kegel wrote:

> That got me thinking -- why not add that execve wrapper to Linux's
> native NFS package?  Then I went looking, and discovered that 
> (perhaps wisely) Linux's NFS package doesn't include 'on' or 'rpc.rexd'.

I don't follow your logic here. What has on/rpc.rexd to do with NFS ? 
Sure, they are both supposed to use RPC as do lots of others (look in 
/etc/rpc), but other than this ? So why bundle on with NFS ?

-- 
Bogdan Costescu

IWR - Interdisziplinaeres Zentrum fuer Wissenschaftliches Rechnen
Universitaet Heidelberg, INF 368, D-69120 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Telephone: +49 6221 54 8869, Telefax: +49 6221 54 8868
E-mail: Bogdan.Costescu@IWR.Uni-Heidelberg.De



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Re: rpc.rexd source for Linux?

[Dan Kegel]

Bogdan Costescu wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Jul 2003, Dan Kegel wrote:
> 
>>That got me thinking -- why not add that execve wrapper to Linux's
>>native NFS package?  Then I went looking, and discovered that 
>>(perhaps wisely) Linux's NFS package doesn't include 'on' or 'rpc.rexd'.
> 
> I don't follow your logic here. What has on/rpc.rexd to do with NFS ? 
> Sure, they are both supposed to use RPC as do lots of others (look in 
> /etc/rpc), but other than this ? So why bundle on with NFS ?

Two reasons:
1. they were part of Sun's original NFS
2. they are only useful if there's a distributed filesystem like NFS in use

But if y'all think those are too weak, then that's fine, it can stay
out of the NFS package.

The question remains - has anyone seen an open source implementation
of rpc.rexd?

Thanks,
Dan





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