I'm surprised they're still in there, at all. You can still get them on Linux, but that's just because of the way Linux distros are built; nobody is working on them as a core part of the OS. If they were in ports and just kinda stuck around due to inertia, that'd make sense. But, it seems like these are in the core FreeBSD installation, which is borderline crazy.
One of the (few) things I like about the BSDs over Linux is that there is a core system that is maintained by a unified team working closely together in the same repos and with the same communication channels and the like, and following the same standards for docs, interfaces, etc. I like that aspect because people with good judgement are in charge of the platform itself and you can just sort of assume the default installation is cohesive, secure, and has reasonable defaults. This is sort of an argument against that theory; there's nothing reasonable about having rsh/rcp/etc. on a modern system. I mean, it's mostly harmless, as long as you know enough to never use them and never allow any software you run to use them, but still...why leave a bomb just laying around?
One of the (few) things I like about the BSDs over Linux is that there is a core system that is maintained by a unified team working closely together in the same repos and with the same communication channels and the like, and following the same standards for docs, interfaces, etc. I like that aspect because people with good judgement are in charge of the platform itself and you can just sort of assume the default installation is cohesive, secure, and has reasonable defaults. This is sort of an argument against that theory; there's nothing reasonable about having rsh/rcp/etc. on a modern system. I mean, it's mostly harmless, as long as you know enough to never use them and never allow any software you run to use them, but still...why leave a bomb just laying around?