xref: /netbsd-src/libexec/fingerd/fingerd.8 (revision dd3ee07da436799d8de85f3055253118b76bf345)
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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
46.Xr finger 1
47program at several network sites.
48The program is supposed to return a friendly,
49human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment
50or a particular person in depth.
51There is no required format and the
52protocol consists mostly of specifying a single
53.Dq command line .
54.Pp
55.Nm
56is started by
57.Xr inetd 8 ,
58which listens for
59.Tn TCP
60requests at port 79.
61Once handed a connection,
62.Nm
63reads a single command line
64terminated by a
65.Aq Tn CRLF
66which it then passes to
67.Xr finger 1 .
68.Nm
69closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
70.Pp
71If the line is null (i.e., just a
72.Aq Tn CRLF
73is sent) then
74.Xr finger 1
75returns a
76.Dq default
77report that lists all people logged into
78the system at that moment.
79.Pp
80If a user name is specified (e.g.,
81.Pf eric Aq Tn CRLF )
82then the
83response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
84whether logged in or not.
85Allowable
86.Dq names
87in the command line include both
88.Dq login names
89and
90.Dq user names .
91If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
92.Pp
93The following options may be passed to
94.Nm
95as server program arguments in
96.Pa /etc/inetd.conf :
97.Bl -tag -width XPXfilenameX
98.It Fl 8
99Enable 8-bit output.
100.It Fl g
101Do not show any gecos information besides the users' real names.
102.It Fl h
103Display the name of the remote host in short mode,
104instead of the office location and office phone.
105.It Fl l
106Enable logging.
107The name of the host originating the query, and the actual request
108is reported via
109.Xr syslog 3
110at LOG_NOTICE priority.
111A request of the form
112.Sq /W
113or
114.Sq /w
115will return long output.
116Empty requests will return all currently logged in users.
117All other requests look for specific users.
118See RFC 1288 for details.
119.It Fl m
120Prevent matching of
121.Ar user
122names.
123.Ar User
124is usually a login name; however, matching will also be done on the
125users' real names, unless the
126.Fl m
127option is supplied.
128.It Fl P Ar filename
129Use an alternate program as the local information provider.
130The default local program executed by
131.Nm
132is
133.Xr finger 1 .
134By specifying a customized local server, this option allows a system manager
135to have more control over what information is provided to remote sites.
136.It Fl p
137Prevents
138.Xr finger 1
139from displaying the contents of the
140.Dq Pa .plan
141and
142.Dq Pa .project
143files.
144.It Fl S
145Prints user information in short mode, one line per user.
146This overrides the
147.Dq Pa Whois switch
148that may be passed in from the remote client.
149.It Fl s
150Disable forwarding of queries to other remote hosts.
151.It Fl u
152Queries without a user name are rejected.
153.El
154.Sh SEE ALSO
155.Xr finger 1 ,
156.Xr inetd 8
157.Sh HISTORY
158The
159.Nm
160command appeared in
161.Bx 4.3 .
162.Sh BUGS
163Connecting directly to the server from a
164.Tn TIP
165or an equally narrow-minded
166.Tn TELNET Ns -protocol
167user program can result
168in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the
169server, which will foul up the command line interpretation.
170.Nm
171should be taught to filter out
172.Tn IAC Ns 's
173and perhaps even respond
174negatively
175.Pq Tn IAC WON'T
176to all option commands received.
177