xref: /netbsd-src/libexec/fingerd/fingerd.8 (revision 93bf6008f8b7982c1d1a9486e4a4a0e687fe36eb)
1.\"	$NetBSD: fingerd.8,v 1.20 2003/11/02 11:27:49 wiz Exp $
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30.\"     from: @(#)fingerd.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
31.\"
32.Dd September 12, 2002
33.Dt FINGERD 8
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm fingerd
37.Nd remote user information server
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Op Fl 8ghlmpSsu
41.Op Fl P Ar filename
42.Sh DESCRIPTION
43.Nm
44is a simple protocol based on RFC 1288
45that provides an interface to the
46Name and Finger programs at several network sites.
47The program is supposed to return a friendly,
48human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment
49or a particular person in depth.
50There is no required format and the
51protocol consists mostly of specifying a single
52.Dq command line .
53.Pp
54.Nm
55is started by
56.Xr inetd 8 ,
57which listens for
58.Tn TCP
59requests at port 79.
60Once handed a connection,
61.Nm
62reads a single command line
63terminated by a
64.Aq Tn CRLF
65which it then passes to
66.Xr finger 1 .
67.Nm
68closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
69.Pp
70If the line is null (i.e., just a
71.Aq Tn CRLF
72is sent) then
73.Xr finger 1
74returns a
75.Dq default
76report that lists all people logged into
77the system at that moment.
78.Pp
79If a user name is specified (e.g.,
80.Pf eric Aq Tn CRLF )
81then the
82response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
83whether logged in or not.
84Allowable
85.Dq names
86in the command line include both
87.Dq login names
88and
89.Dq user names .
90If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
91.Pp
92The following options may be passed to
93.Nm
94as server program arguments in
95.Pa /etc/inetd.conf :
96.Bl -tag -width XPXfilenameX
97.It Fl 8
98Enable 8-bit output.
99.It Fl g
100Do not show any gecos information besides the users' real names.
101.It Fl h
102Display the name of the remote host in short mode,
103instead of the office location and office phone.
104.It Fl l
105Enable logging.
106The name of the host originating the query, and the actual request
107is reported via
108.Xr syslog 3
109at LOG_NOTICE priority.
110A request of the form
111.Sq /W
112or
113.Sq /w
114will return long output.
115Empty requests will return all currently logged in users.
116All other requests look for specific users.
117See RFC 1288 for details.
118.It Fl m
119Prevent matching of
120.Ar user
121names.
122.Ar User
123is usually a login name; however, matching will also be done on the
124users' real names, unless the
125.Fl m
126option is supplied.
127.It Fl P Ar filename
128Use an alternate program as the local information provider.
129The default local program executed by
130.Nm
131is
132.Xr finger 1 .
133By specifying a customized local server, this option allows a system manager
134to have more control over what information is provided to remote sites.
135.It Fl p
136Prevents
137.Xr finger 1
138from displaying the contents of the
139.Dq Pa .plan
140and
141.Dq Pa .project
142files.
143.It Fl S
144Prints user information in short mode, one line per user.
145This overrides the
146.Dq Pa Whois switch
147that may be passed in from the remote client.
148.It Fl s
149Disable forwarding of queries to other remote hosts.
150.It Fl u
151Queries without a user name are rejected.
152.El
153.Sh SEE ALSO
154.Xr finger 1 ,
155.Xr inetd 8
156.Sh HISTORY
157The
158.Nm
159command appeared in
160.Bx 4.3 .
161.Sh BUGS
162Connecting directly to the server from a
163.Tn TIP
164or an equally narrow-minded
165.Tn TELNET Ns -protocol
166user program can result
167in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the
168server, which will foul up the command line interpretation.
169.Nm
170should be taught to filter out
171.Tn IAC Ns 's
172and perhaps even respond
173negatively
174.Pq Tn IAC WON'T
175to all option commands received.
176