Do any of you make use of /etc/Distfile?

The daily script executes rdist -f /etc/Distfile if run_rdist=yes and said
file exists, as root? => the other computer being rdist'd to needs a .rhosts
for root? (bad) The way around this is to set RCMD_CMD=ssh, and use
authorized_keys, but still for root => you must set PermitRootLogin yes ?

I'm not sure of these steps, so is that the picture? Should we invent a
rdist pseudo-user, and su -c rdist rdist -f /etc/Distfile in /etc/daily,
creating a .ssh/authorized_keys for user rdist?

Suggestions welcome!

Cheers,

Patrick