From Linux Man Pages
/etc/hosts.equiv - list of hosts and users that are granted "trusted" r command access to your system
DESCRIPTION
The hosts.equiv file allows or denies hosts and users to use the r-commands (e.g. rlogin, rsh or rcp) without
supplying a password.
The file uses the following format:
[ + | - ] [hostname] [username]
The hostname is the name of a host which is logically equivalent to the local host. Users logged into that host
are allowed to access like-named user accounts on the local host without supplying a password. The hostname may
be (optionally) preceded by a plus (+) sign. If the plus sign is used alone it allows any host to access your
system. You can explicitly deny access to a host by preceding the hostname by a minus (-) sign. Users from that
host must always supply a password. For security reasons you should always use the FQDN of the hostname and not
the short hostname.
The username entry grants a specific user access to all user accounts (except root) without supplying a password.
That means the user is NOT restricted to like-named accounts. The username may be (optionally) preceded by a plus
(+) sign. You can also explicitly deny access to a specific user by preceding the username with a minus (-) sign.
This says that the user is not trusted no matter what other entries for that host exist.
Netgroups can be specified by preceding the netgroup by an @ sign.
Be extremely careful when using the plus (+) sign. A simple typographical error could result in a standalone plus
sign. A standalone plus sign is a wildcard character that means "any host"!
FILES
/etc/hosts.equiv
NOTES
Some systems will only honor the contents of this file when it has owner root and no write permission for anybody
else. Some exceptionally paranoid systems even require that there be no other hard links to the file.
Modern systems use the Pluggable Authentication Modules library (PAM). With PAM a standalone plus sign is only
considered a wildcard character which means "any host" when the word promiscuous is added to the auth component
line in your PAM file for the particular service (e.g. rlogin).
RELATED
rhosts(5), rlogind(8), rshd(8)
CATEGORY