IDENTD(8) BSD System Manager's Manual IDENTD(8)NAMEidentd - TCP/IP IDENT protocol server
SYNOPSISidentd [-i | -w | -b] [-t seconds] [-u uid] [-g gid] [-p port]
[-a address] [-c charset] [-noelvmNUdh]
DESCRIPTIONidentd is a server which implements the TCP/IP proposed standard IDENT
user identification protocol as specified in the RFC 1413 document.
identd operates by looking up specific TCP/IP connections and returning
the user name of the process owning the connection.
The options are as follows:
-i Tells identd to run as a process started from inetd(8) with the
"nowait" option in the /etc/inetd.conf file. Use of this mode
will make inetd(8) start one identd daemon for each connection
request. This is the default mode of operation.
-w Tells identd to run as a process started from inetd(8) with the
"wait" option in the /etc/inetd.conf file. This mode of operation
will start a copy of identd at the first connection request and
then identd will handle subsequent requests. Previous versions
listed this as the preferred mode of operation due to the initial
overhead of parsing the kernel nlist. This version does not use
kmem or nlist parsing, so this reasoning is no longer valid.
-b Specify operation as a stand-alone daemon.
-h Hide the actual information about the user by providing an opaque
token instead. This token is entered into the local system logs
so that the administrator can later discover who the real user
was.
-H Hide information about non existing users (e.g., connections
through NAT) as well as existing users. Implies -h.
-t seconds
Specifies an idle timeout in seconds where a daemon running in
"wait" mode will timeout and exit. The default is no timeout.
-u uid Specify a user ID number or user name which the identd server
should switch to after binding itself to the TCP/IP port if run-
ning as a stand-alone daemon. identd runs as user "_identd" by
default and falls back to "nobody" if the "_identd" user does not
exist.
-g gid Specify a group ID number or group name which the identd server
should switch to after binding itself to the TCP/IP port if run-
ning as a stand-alone daemon.
-p port
Specify an alternative port number or service name on which to
listen when running as a stand-alone daemon. Default is "auth"
(113).
-a address
Specify a local IP address in dotted quad format to bind the
listen socket to if running as a stand-alone daemon. By default
the daemon listens on all local IP addresses.
-l Use syslogd(8) for logging purposes.
-v Log every request to syslog if -l above is specified.
-o Do not reveal operating system type; always return "OTHER" in-
stead.
-e Always return "UNKNOWN-ERROR" instead of the "NO-USER" or
"INVALID-PORT" errors.
-c charset
Specify an optional character set designator to be included in
replies. charset should be a valid character set as described in
the MIME RFC in upper case characters.
-n Always return uid numbers instead of usernames.
-N When replying with a user name or ID, first check for a file
.noident in the user's home directory. If this file is accessi-
ble, return "HIDDEN-USER" instead of the normal USERID response.
-U When replying with a user name or ID, first check for a file
.ident in the user's home directory. If this file is accessible,
return the contents of the file instead of the normal USERID
response.
-m Allow multiple requests to be processed per session. Each request
is specified one per line and the responses will be returned one
per line. The connection will not be closed until the client
closes its end of the connection. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS MODE
VIOLATES THE PROTOCOL SPECIFICATION AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS.
-d This flag enables some debugging code that normally should NOT be
enabled since that breaks the protocol and may reveal information
that should not be available to outsiders.
SEE ALSOinetd.conf(5)NOTESidentd uses the LOG_DAEMON syslogd(8) facility to log messages.
Unlike previous versions of identd, this version uses sysctl(3) to obtain
information from the kernel instead of parsing kmem. This version does
not require privilege beyond what is needed to bind the listen port if
running as a stand-alone daemon.
BUGS
Since identd should typically not be run as a privileged user or group,
.ident files for use when running with the -U flag will need to be world
accessible. The same applies for .noident files when running with the -N
flag.
MirOS BSD #10-current July 27, 1997 1
