xref: /freebsd/libexec/fingerd/fingerd.8 (revision d37eb51047221dc3322b34db1038ff3aa533883f)
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28.Dd November 19, 2014
29.Dt FINGERD 8
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm fingerd
33.Nd remote user information server
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.Nm
36.Op Fl d
37.Op Fl k
38.Op Fl s
39.Op Fl l
40.Op Fl p Ar filename
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42The
43.Nm
44utility uses a simple protocol based on
45.%T RFC1196
46that provides an interface to
47.Xr finger 1
48at several network sites.
49It is supposed to return a friendly,
50human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment
51or a particular person in depth.
52There is no required format and the
53protocol consists mostly of specifying a single
54.Dq "command line" ,
55thus,
56.Nm
57can also be used to implement other protocols in conjunction with the
58.Fl p
59flag.
60.Pp
61The
62.Nm
63utility is started by
64.Xr inetd 8 ,
65which listens for
66.Tn TCP
67requests at port 79.
68Once connected it reads a single command line
69terminated by a
70.Aq Tn CRLF
71which is passed to
72.Xr finger 1 .
73The
74.Nm
75utility closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
76.Pp
77If the line is null (i.e., just a
78.Aq Tn CRLF
79is sent) then
80.Xr finger 1
81returns a
82.Dq default
83report that lists all people logged into
84the system at that moment.
85.Pp
86If a user name is specified (e.g.,\&
87.Pf eric Aq Tn CRLF )
88then the
89response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
90whether logged in or not.
91Allowable
92.Dq names
93in the command line include both
94.Dq login names
95and
96.Dq user names .
97If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
98.Pp
99The following options may be passed to
100.Nm
101as server program arguments in
102.Pa /etc/inetd.conf :
103.Bl -tag -width indent
104.It Fl d
105Enable debugging mode.
106In debugging mode,
107.Nm
108will not attempt any network-related operations on
109.Va stdin ,
110and it will print the full
111.Nm finger
112command line
113to
114.Va stderr
115before executing it.
116.It Fl k
117Suppress login information.
118See the description of the
119.Fl k
120option in
121.Xr finger 1
122for details.
123.It Fl s
124Enable secure mode.
125Queries without a user name are rejected and
126forwarding of queries to other remote hosts is denied.
127.It Fl l
128Enable logging.
129The name of the host originating the query is reported via
130.Xr syslog 3
131at LOG_NOTICE priority.
132.It Fl p
133Use an alternate program as the local information provider.
134The default local program
135executed by
136.Nm
137is
138.Xr finger 1 .
139By specifying a customized local server,
140this option allows a system manager
141to have more control over what information is
142provided to remote sites.
143If
144.Fl p
145is specified,
146.Nm
147will also set the environment variable
148.Ev FINGERD_REMOTE_HOST
149to the name of the host making the request.
150.El
151.Sh SEE ALSO
152.Xr finger 1 ,
153.Xr inetd 8
154.Sh HISTORY
155The
156.Nm
157utility appeared in
158.Bx 4.3 .
159