fingerd man page on BSDi

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   6284 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
BSDi logo
[printable version]

FINGERD(8)		  BSD System Manager's Manual		    FINGERD(8)

NAME
     fingerd - remote user information server

SYNOPSIS
     fingerd [-ls] [-p filename] [-t -timeout]

DESCRIPTION
     Fingerd is a simple protocol based on RFC1196 that provides an interface
     to the Name and Finger programs at several network sites.	The program is
     supposed to return a friendly, human-oriented status report on either the
     system at the moment or a particular person in depth.  There is no re-
     quired format and the protocol consists mostly of specifying a single
     ``command line''.

     Fingerd listens for TCP requests at port 79.  Once connected it reads a
     single command line terminated by a <CRLF> which is passed to finger(1).
     Fingerd closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.

     If the line is null (i.e. just a <CRLF> is sent) then finger returns a
     ``default'' report that lists all people logged into the system at that
     moment.

     If a user name is specified (e.g.	eric<CRLF>) then the response lists
     more extended information for only that particular user, whether logged
     in or not.	 Allowable ``names'' in the command line include both ``login
     names'' and ``user names''. If a name is ambiguous, all possible deriva-
     tions are returned.

     The following options may be passed to fingerd as server program argu-
     ments in /etc/inetd.conf:

     -l	     Enable logging.  The name of the host originating the query is
	     reported via syslog(3) at LOG_NOTICE priority.

     -p	     Use an alternate program as the local information provider.  The
	     default local program executed by fingerd is finger(1).  By spec-
	     ifying a customized local server, this option allows a system
	     manager to have more control over what information is provided to
	     remote sites.

     -s	     Enable secure mode.  Queries without a user name are rejected and
	     forwarding of queries to other remote hosts is denied.

     -t	     Specifies the length of time, in seconds, that fingerd will wait
	     trying to read the command line from the client.  After this
	     timeout the fingerd process will exit and the connection will
	     terminate.	 The default value is 60, a value of 0 disables the
	     timeout.

SEE ALSO
     finger(1)

BUGS
     Connecting directly to the server from a TIP or an equally narrow-minded
     TELNET-protocol user program can result in meaningless attempts at option
     negotiation being sent to the server, which will foul up the command line
     interpretation.  Fingerd should be taught to filter out IAC's and perhaps
     even respond negatively (IAC WON'T) to all option commands received.

HISTORY
     The fingerd command appeared in 4.3BSD.

4.3 Berkeley Distribution	 June 4, 1993				     1
[top]

List of man pages available for BSDi

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net