2.7)  Why do I get [some strange error message] when I "rsh host command" ?

      (We're talking about the remote shell program "rsh" or sometimes
      "remsh" or "remote"; on some machines, there is a restricted shell
      called "rsh", which is a different thing.)

      If your remote account uses the C shell, the remote host will
      fire up a C shell to execute 'command' for you, and that shell
      will read your remote .cshrc file.  Perhaps your .cshrc contains
      a "stty", "biff" or some other command that isn't appropriate for
      a non-interactive shell.  The unexpected output or error message
      from these commands can screw up your rsh in odd ways.

      Here's an example.  Suppose you have

        stty erase ^H
        biff y

      in your .cshrc file.  You'll get some odd messages like this.

        % rsh some-machine date
        stty: : Can't assign requested address
        Where are you?
        Tue Oct  1 09:24:45 EST 1991

      You might also get similar errors when running certain "at" or
      "cron" jobs that also read your .cshrc file.

      Fortunately, the fix is simple.  There are, quite possibly, a
      whole *bunch* of operations in your ".cshrc" (e.g., "set
      history=N") that are simply not worth doing except in interactive
      shells.  What you do is surround them in your ".cshrc" with:

            if ( $?prompt ) then
                    operations....
            endif

      and, since in a non-interactive shell "prompt" won't be set, the
      operations in question will only be done in interactive shells.

      You may also wish to move some commands to your .login file; if
      those commands only need to be done when a login session starts
      up (checking for new mail, unread news and so on) it's better to
      have them in the .login file.