xref: /freebsd/libexec/fingerd/fingerd.8 (revision 3f162cb85dafb6f4c8537b3e606c2ccdaa12a424)
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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 is a simple protocol based on
50.%T RFC1196
51that provides an interface to the
52Name and Finger programs at several network sites.
53The program 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 .
59.Pp
60The
61.Nm
62utility is started by
63.Xr inetd 8 ,
64which listens for
65.Tn TCP
66requests at port 79.
67Once connected it reads a single command line
68terminated by a
69.Aq Tn CRLF
70which is passed to
71.Xr finger 1 .
72The
73.Nm
74utility closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
75.Pp
76If the line is null (i.e. just a
77.Aq Tn CRLF
78is sent) then
79.Xr finger 1
80returns a
81.Dq default
82report that lists all people logged into
83the system at that moment.
84.Pp
85If a user name is specified (e.g.\&
86.Pf eric Aq Tn CRLF )
87then the
88response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
89whether logged in or not.
90Allowable
91.Dq names
92in the command line include both
93.Dq login names
94and
95.Dq user names .
96If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
97.Pp
98The following options may be passed to
99.Nm
100as server program arguments in
101.Pa /etc/inetd.conf :
102.Bl -tag -width indent
103.It Fl s
104Enable secure mode.
105Queries without a user name are rejected and
106forwarding of queries to other remote hosts is denied.
107.It Fl l
108Enable logging.
109The name of the host originating the query is reported via
110.Xr syslog 3
111at LOG_NOTICE priority.
112.It Fl p
113Use an alternate program as the local information provider.
114The default local program
115executed by
116.Nm
117is
118.Xr finger 1 .
119By specifying a customized local server,
120this option allows a system manager
121to have more control over what information is
122provided to remote sites.
123If
124.Fl p
125is specified,
126.Nm
127will also set the environment variable
128.Ev FINGERD_REMOTE_HOST
129to the name of the host making the request.
130.El
131.Sh SEE ALSO
132.Xr finger 1 ,
133.Xr inetd 8
134.Sh BUGS
135Connecting directly to the server from a
136.Tn TIP
137or an equally narrow-minded
138.Tn TELNET Ns \-protocol
139user program can result
140in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the
141server, which will foul up the command line interpretation.
142The
143.Nm
144utility should be taught to filter out
145.Tn IAC Ns \'s
146and perhaps even respond
147negatively
148.Pq Tn IAC WON'T
149to all option commands received.
150.Sh HISTORY
151The
152.Nm
153utility appeared in
154.Bx 4.3 .
155