---
advisories:
- date: 2018-04-01
  threshold: '3.14'
  versions: 3.12 and 3.13
blurb: |
  remctl is a client/server application that supports remote execution of
  specific commands, using Kerberos GSS-API for authentication.
  Authorization is controlled by a configuration file and ACL files and can
  be set separately for each command, unlike with rsh.  remctl is like a
  Kerberos-authenticated simple CGI server, or a combination of Kerberos ssh
  and sudo without most of the features and complexity of either.
build:
  autoconf: '2.64'
  automake: '1.11'
  autotools: true
  bootstrap: |
    You will also need pkg-config installed to regenerate configure and
    xml2rfc to build the formatted protocol documentation.
  gssapi: true
  install: true
  kerberos: true
  manpages: true
  middle: |
    Solaris users should look at `examples/remctld.xml`, an SMF manifest for
    running the `remctld` daemon.

    To also build the Perl bindings for the libremctl client library, pass the
    `--enable-perl` option to `configure`.  The Perl module build is handled
    by the normal Perl extension build system, and therefore will be built
    with compiler flags defined by your Perl installation and installed into
    your local Perl module directory regardless of the `--prefix` argument to
    `configure`.  To change this, you will need to run `perl Makefile.PL` in
    the `perl` subdirectory of the build tree with appropriate options and
    rebuild the module after running `make` and before running `make install`.

    To also build the remctl PECL extension for PHP, pass the `--enable-php`
    option to `configure`.  The PHP PECL module build is handled by the normal
    PHP extension build system and therefore will be installed into your local
    PHP module directory.  The configure script will look for `phpize` on your
    `PATH` by default; if it's in some other directory, set the `PHPIZE`
    environment variable to the full path or set it on the configure command
    line.  The configure script for the PECL extension will be run during the
    build instead of during configure.  This is unfortunately apparently
    unavoidable given how the PECL build system works.

    To also build the Python bindings for the libremctl client library, pass
    the `--enable-python` option to configure.  The Python module build is
    handled by the normal Python extension build system, and therefore will be
    installed into your local Python module directory regardless of the
    `--prefix` argument to `configure`.  To change this, you will need to run
    `python setup.py install` by hand in the `python` directory with whatever
    options you want to use.

    To also build the Ruby bindings for the libremctl client library, pass
    the `--enable-ruby` option to configure.  The Ruby module build is handled
    by the normal Ruby module build system, and therefore will be installed
    into your local Ruby module directory regardless of the `--prefix`
    argument to `configure`.  To change this, override the `sitedir` variable on
    the `make install` command line, as in:

    ```
        make install sitedir=/opt/ruby
    ```

    The remctl build system also supports a few other environment variables
    that can be set to control aspects of the Perl, Python, and Ruby binding
    build systems.  These are primarily only of use when packaging the
    software.  For more information, a list of the variables, and their
    effects, see the comment at the start of `Makefile.am`.

    The Java client and server aren't integrated with the regular build
    system.  For information on building and installing them, see
    `java/README`.

    remctl will use pkg-config if it's available to find the build flags for
    libevent.  You can control which pkg-config binary and paths are used with
    the normal pkg-config environment variables of `PKG_CONFIG`,
    `PKG_CONFIG_PATH`, and `PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR`, and you can override the
    pkg-config results with `LIBEVENT_CFLAGS` and `LIBEVENT_LIBS`.
    Alternately, you can bypass pkg-config by passing one or more of
    `--with-libevent`, `--with-libevent-include`, and `--with-libevent-lib` to
    indicate the install prefix, include directory, or library directory.

    remctl will automatically build with PCRE support if pcre-config or the
    PCRE library are found.  You can pass `--with-pcre` to configure to
    specify the root directory where PCRE is installed, or set the include and
    library directories separately with `--with-pcre-include` and
    `--with-pcre-lib`.  You can also set `PCRE_CONFIG` to point to a different
    pcre-config script, or do similar things as with `PATH_KRB5_CONFIG`
    described below.

    remctl will automatically build with GPUT support if the GPUT header and
    library are found.  You can pass `--with-gput` to configure to specify the
    root directory where GPUT is installed, or set the include and library
    directories separately with `--with-gput-include` and `--with-gput-lib`.
  reduced_depends: true
  type: Autoconf
copyrights:
- holder: Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>
  years: 2015-2016, 2018
- holder: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
  years: 2002-2014
description: |
  remctl is a client/server application that supports remote execution of
  specific commands, using Kerberos GSS-API for authentication and
  confidentiality.  The commands a given user can execute are controlled by
  a configuration file and ACL files and can easily be tightly limited,
  unlike with rsh.  The mapping of command to backend program is done by the
  configuration file, which allows some additional flexibility compared to
  ssh command restrictions and works with Kerberos authentications rather
  than being limited to public key authentications.

  remctld is very similar to a CGI server that uses a different network
  protocol than HTTP, always does strong authentication before executing the
  desired command, and guarantees the data is encrypted on the network.
  Alternately, you can think of it as a very simple combination of Kerberos
  ssh and sudo, without most of the features of both but with simpler
  authorization.

  There are a lot of different client/server systems that do something
  similar, including regular rsh, CGI, IBM's sysctl (not to be confused with
  the Linux kernel call and configuration file of the same name), CERN's
  arc, and more elaborate systems like MIT's Moira.  remctl has the
  advantage over many of these schemes of using GSS-API and being about as
  simple as it possibly can be while still being useful.  It doesn't require
  any particular programming language, builds self-contained binaries, and
  uses as minimal of a protocol as possible.

  Both C and Java clients and servers are provided, as well as Perl, PHP,
  and Python bindings for the C client library.  For more information about
  the Java client, see `java/README`.  For more information about the PHP
  bindings, see `php/README`.  For more information about the Python
  bindings, see `python/README`.

  Also included in the remctl package is an alternate way of running the
  remctl server: remctl-shell.  This program is designed to be run as either
  a shell or a forced command under ssh, using ssh for authentication and
  communicating the authentication information to remctl-shell via either
  environment variables or command-line arguments via the forced command
  configuration.  This version of the server uses simple ssh clients, rather
  than using the remctl client program or libraries.

  remctl was originally written by Anton Ushakov as a replacement for IBM's
  sysctl, a client/server application with Kerberos v4 authentication that
  allowed the client to run Tcl code on the server, protected by ACLs.  At
  Stanford, we used sysctl extensively, but mostly only to run external
  programs, so remctl was developed as a Kerberos v5 equivalent that did
  only the portions we needed.

  Complete protocol documentation is available in `docs/protocol.html`.
  Also present, as `docs/design.html`, is the original design document (now
  somewhat out of date).
distribution:
  packaging:
    debian:
      package: remctl
      summary: |
        Debian packages are available from Debian as of Debian 3.1 (sarge).  For
        Debian 4.0 (etch) and later, install remctl-server for the server and
        remctl-client for the client.  (The sarge release had a single remctl
        package that contained both.)

        The Net::Remctl Perl module is available in Debian 5.0 (lenny) and newer;
        install libnet-remctl-perl for it.  The PHP bindings (php5-remctl), Python
        bindings (python-remctl), and Ruby bindings (ruby-remctl) are available in
        Debian 6.0 (squeeze) and newer.  The Ruby bindings package is named
        libremctl-ruby in Debian versions before 7.0 (wheezy).
    extra: |
      For those using Puppet, there is a
      [Puppet module](https://forge.puppetlabs.com/ccin2p3/remctl)
      available for installing the remctl server and managing server
      configurations.  This was written and is maintained by the IN2P3 Computing
      Centre; see that page for more information.
  section: kerberos
  tarname: remctl
  version: remctl
docs:
  api:
  - name: remctl-api
    title: remctl and remctl_free_result
  - name: remctl_new
    title: remctl_new
  - name: remctl_open
    title: remctl_open
  - name: remctl_command
    title: remctl_command and remctl_commandv
  - name: remctl_output
    title: remctl_output
  - name: remctl_noop
    title: remctl_noop
  - name: remctl_close
    title: remctl_close
  - name: remctl_error
    title: remctl_error
  - name: remctl_set_ccache
    title: remctl_set_ccache
  - name: remctl_set_source_ip
    title: remctl_set_source_ip
  - name: remctl_set_timeout
    title: remctl_set_timeout
  - name: net-remctl
    title: Net::Remctl Perl module
  - name: net-remctl-backend
    title: Net::Remctl::Backend Perl module
  developer:
  - name: extending
    title: Extending remctl
  - name: protocol
    title: Protocol specification
  - name: protocol-v4
    title: Protocol v4 draft
  user:
  - name: remctl
    title: remctl manual page
  - name: remctl-shell
    title: remctl-shell manual page
  - name: remctld
    title: remctld manual page
  - name: java-readme
    title: Java client and server README
  - name: php-readme
    title: PHP bindings README
  - name: python-readme
    title: Python bindings README
  - name: ruby-readme
    title: Ruby bindings README
  - name: thanks
    title: Thanks and credits
format: v1
license:
  name: Expat
maintainer: Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>
name: remctl
quote:
  author: Peter Marshall
  text: |
    Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.
requirements: |
  The remctld server and the standard client are written in C and require a
  C compiler and GSS-API libraries to build.  Both will build against either
  MIT Kerberos or Heimdal of any reasonable vintage.  remctl will also build
  against the Kerberos GSS-API implementation shipped with AIX 5.2 (and
  possibly later versions) and the Solaris 10 generic GSS-API library (and
  possibly later versions).  The `remctl_set_ccache` implementation is
  improved by building with Kerberos libraries and a GSS-API library that
  supports `gss_krb5_import_cred`.

  The remctld server requires libevent 1.4.x or later.  It's only been
  tested with libevent 1.4.13-stable and later, but should work with 1.4.4
  or later.  It is now only tested with libevent 2.x, so moving to a later
  version of libevent if possible is recommended.

  The remctl server will support regex ACLs if the system supports the POSIX
  regex API.  The remctl server also optionally supports PCRE regular
  expressions in ACLs.  To include that support, the PCRE library is
  required.

  To build the remctl client for Windows, the Microsoft Windows SDK for
  Windows Vista and the MIT Kerberos for Windows SDK are required, along
  with a Microsoft Windows build environment (probably Visual Studio).
  remctl has only been tested with the 3.2.1 MIT Kerberos for Windows SDK.
  To run the resulting binary, MIT Kerberos for Windows must be installed
  and configured.  The client was tested on Windows XP and Vista and should
  work on Windows 2000 and up; however, the primary maintainer does not use
  or test Windows, so it's always possible Windows support has broken.  The
  server is not supported on Windows.

  To build the Perl bindings for the C client library, you will need Perl
  5.8 or later.

  To build the PHP bindings for the C client library, you will need PHP 5.x
  or later and phpize, plus any other programs that phpize requires.  PHP
  5.x support has only been tested on 5.2 and 5.3, and PHP support is now
  only tested on PHP 7.x and later.

  To build the Python bindings for the C client library, you will need
  Python 2.3 or later (primarily tested with Python 2.7).  Python 3 is not
  (yet) supported.

  To build the Ruby bindings for the C client library, you will need Ruby
  1.8 or later (primarily tested with 2.5 and later).

  None of the language bindings have been tested on Windows.

  A Java client and Java server are available in the java subdirectory, but
  they are not integrated into the normal build or built by default.  There
  is a basic Makefile in that directory that may require some tweaking.  It
  currently requires the Sun Java JDK (1.4.2, 5, or 6) or OpenJDK 6 or
  later.  A considerably better Java client implementation is available on
  the `java` branch in the Git repository but has not yet been merged.
sections:
- body: |
    (These instructions are not tested by the author and are now dated.
    Updated instructions via a pull request, issue, or email are very
    welcome.)

    First, install the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows Vista if you have not
    already.  This is a free download from Microsoft for users of "Genuine
    Microsoft Windows."  The `vcvars32.bat` environment provided by Visual
    Studio may work as an alternative, but has not been tested.

    Next, install the [MIT Kerberos for Windows
    SDK](https://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/dist/index.html).  remctl has been
    tested with version 3.2.1 but should hopefully work with later versions.

    Then, follow these steps:

    1. Run the `InitEnv.cmd` script included with the Windows SDK with
       parameters `"/xp /release"`.

    2. Run the `configure.bat` script, giving it as an argument the location
       of the Kerberos for Windows SDK.  For example, if you installed the KfW
       SDK in `"c:\KfW SDK"`, you should run:

       ```
           configure "c:\KfW SDK"
       ```

    3. Run `nmake` to start compiling.  You can ignore the warnings.

    If all goes well, you will have `remctl.exe` and `remctl.dll`.  The latter
    is a shared library used by the client program.  It exports the same
    interface as the UNIX libremctl library.
  title: Building on Windows
support:
  email: eagle@eyrie.org
  github: rra/remctl
  web: https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/remctl/
synopsis: remote authenticated command execution with ACLs
test:
  lancaster: true
  prefix: |
    remctl comes with a comprehensive test suite, but it requires some
    configuration in order to test anything other than low-level utility
    functions.  For the full test suite, you will need to have a keytab that
    can authenticate to a running KDC.  Using a test KDC environment, if you
    have one, is recommended.

    Follow the instructions in `tests/config/README` to configure the test
    suite.

    Now, you can run the test suite with:
  suffix: |
    On particularly slow or loaded systems, you may see intermittent failures
    from the `server/streaming` test because it's timing-sensitive.

    The test suite will also need to be able to bind to 127.0.0.1 on port
    11119 and 14373 to run test network server programs.

    To test anonymous authentication, the KDC configured in the test suite
    needs to support service tickets for the anonymous identity (not a
    standard configuration).  This test will be skipped if the KDC does not
    support this.

    To test user handling in remctld, you will need the `fakeroot` command
    (available in the `fakeroot` package in Debian and Ubuntu).  This test
    will be skipped if `fakeroot` isn't available.

    The following additional Perl modules will be used by the test suite for
    the main package and the Perl bindings if installed:

    * Test::MinimumVersion
    * Test::Perl::Critic
    * Test::Pod
    * Test::Spelling
    * Test::Strict
    * Test::Synopsis

    All are available on CPAN.  Those tests will be skipped if the modules are
    not available.
vcs:
  browse: https://git.eyrie.org/?p=kerberos/remctl.git
  github: rra/remctl
  openhub: https://www.openhub.net/p/remctl
  status:
    travis: rra/remctl
  type: Git
  url: https://git.eyrie.org/git/kerberos/remctl.git
version: '3.15'
