xref: /freebsd/libexec/fingerd/fingerd.8 (revision 0c9dd24bbb028a1fb8dbd0538c356b52f7738b65)
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32.\"     @(#)fingerd.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 4, 1993
36.Dt FINGERD 8
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm fingerd
40.Nd remote user information server
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl s
44.Op Fl l
45.Op Fl p Ar filename
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Nm
49utility uses a simple protocol based on
50.%T RFC1196
51that provides an interface to
52.Xr finger 1
53at several network sites.  It is supposed to return a friendly,
54human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment
55or a particular person in depth.
56There is no required format and the
57protocol consists mostly of specifying a single
58.Dq command line Ns ,
59thus,
60.Nm
61can also be used to implement other protocols in conjunction with the
62.Fl p
63flag.
64.Pp
65The
66.Nm
67utility is started by
68.Xr inetd 8 ,
69which listens for
70.Tn TCP
71requests at port 79.
72Once connected it reads a single command line
73terminated by a
74.Aq Tn CRLF
75which is passed to
76.Xr finger 1 .
77The
78.Nm
79utility closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
80.Pp
81If the line is null (i.e. just a
82.Aq Tn CRLF
83is sent) then
84.Xr finger 1
85returns a
86.Dq default
87report that lists all people logged into
88the system at that moment.
89.Pp
90If a user name is specified (e.g.\&
91.Pf eric Aq Tn CRLF )
92then the
93response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
94whether logged in or not.
95Allowable
96.Dq names
97in the command line include both
98.Dq login names
99and
100.Dq user names .
101If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
102.Pp
103The following options may be passed to
104.Nm
105as server program arguments in
106.Pa /etc/inetd.conf :
107.Bl -tag -width indent
108.It Fl s
109Enable secure mode.
110Queries without a user name are rejected and
111forwarding of queries to other remote hosts is denied.
112.It Fl l
113Enable logging.
114The name of the host originating the query is reported via
115.Xr syslog 3
116at LOG_NOTICE priority.
117.It Fl p
118Use an alternate program as the local information provider.
119The default local program
120executed by
121.Nm
122is
123.Xr finger 1 .
124By specifying a customized local server,
125this option allows a system manager
126to have more control over what information is
127provided to remote sites.
128If
129.Fl p
130is specified,
131.Nm
132will also set the environment variable
133.Ev FINGERD_REMOTE_HOST
134to the name of the host making the request.
135.El
136.Sh SEE ALSO
137.Xr finger 1 ,
138.Xr inetd 8
139.Sh BUGS
140Connecting directly to the server from a
141.Tn TIP
142or an equally narrow-minded
143.Tn TELNET Ns \-protocol
144user program can result
145in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the
146server, which will foul up the command line interpretation.
147The
148.Nm
149utility should be taught to filter out
150.Tn IAC Ns \'s
151and perhaps even respond
152negatively
153.Pq Tn IAC WON'T
154to all option commands received.
155.Sh HISTORY
156The
157.Nm
158utility appeared in
159.Bx 4.3 .
160