xref: /freebsd/libexec/fingerd/fingerd.8 (revision 39beb93c3f8bdbf72a61fda42300b5ebed7390c8)
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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.
54It is supposed to return a friendly,
55human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment
56or a particular person in depth.
57There is no required format and the
58protocol consists mostly of specifying a single
59.Dq "command line" ,
60thus,
61.Nm
62can also be used to implement other protocols in conjunction with the
63.Fl p
64flag.
65.Pp
66The
67.Nm
68utility is started by
69.Xr inetd 8 ,
70which listens for
71.Tn TCP
72requests at port 79.
73Once connected it reads a single command line
74terminated by a
75.Aq Tn CRLF
76which is passed to
77.Xr finger 1 .
78The
79.Nm
80utility closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
81.Pp
82If the line is null (i.e., just a
83.Aq Tn CRLF
84is sent) then
85.Xr finger 1
86returns a
87.Dq default
88report that lists all people logged into
89the system at that moment.
90.Pp
91If a user name is specified (e.g.\&
92.Pf eric Aq Tn CRLF )
93then the
94response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
95whether logged in or not.
96Allowable
97.Dq names
98in the command line include both
99.Dq login names
100and
101.Dq user names .
102If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
103.Pp
104The following options may be passed to
105.Nm
106as server program arguments in
107.Pa /etc/inetd.conf :
108.Bl -tag -width indent
109.It Fl s
110Enable secure mode.
111Queries without a user name are rejected and
112forwarding of queries to other remote hosts is denied.
113.It Fl l
114Enable logging.
115The name of the host originating the query is reported via
116.Xr syslog 3
117at LOG_NOTICE priority.
118.It Fl p
119Use an alternate program as the local information provider.
120The default local program
121executed by
122.Nm
123is
124.Xr finger 1 .
125By specifying a customized local server,
126this option allows a system manager
127to have more control over what information is
128provided to remote sites.
129If
130.Fl p
131is specified,
132.Nm
133will also set the environment variable
134.Ev FINGERD_REMOTE_HOST
135to the name of the host making the request.
136.El
137.Sh SEE ALSO
138.Xr finger 1 ,
139.Xr inetd 8
140.Sh HISTORY
141The
142.Nm
143utility appeared in
144.Bx 4.3 .
145.Sh BUGS
146Connecting directly to the server from a
147.Tn TIP
148or an equally narrow-minded
149.Tn TELNET Ns \-protocol
150user program can result
151in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the
152server, which will foul up the command line interpretation.
153The
154.Nm
155utility should be taught to filter out
156.Tn IAC Ns \'s
157and perhaps even respond
158negatively
159.Pq Tn IAC WON'T
160to all option commands received.
161