View Source: in.fingerd(8) - Waikato Linux Users Group

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__NAME__


in.fingerd - remote user information server
__SYNOPSIS__


in.fingerd [[-wulf] [[-pL path] [[-t timeout]
__DESCRIPTION__


Fingerd is a simple daemon based on ''RFC1196'' that
provides an interface to the ``finger'' program at most
network sites. The program is supposed to return a friendly,
human-oriented status report on either the system at the
moment or a par- ticular person in depth.


If the -w option is given, remote users will get an addi- tional ``Welcome to ...'' banner which also shows some informations (e.g. uptime, operating system name and release) about the system the in.fingerd is running on. Some sites may consider this a security risk as it gives out information that may be useful to crackers.


If the -u option is given, requests of the form ``finger
@host'' are rejected.


If the -l option is given, information about requests made
is logged. This option probably violates users' privacy and
should not be used on multiuser boxes.


If the -f option is given, finger forwarding
(user@host1@host2) is allowed. Useful behind firewalls, but
probably not wise for security and resource
reasons.


The -p option allows specification of an alternate location
for in.fingerd to find the ``finger'' program. The -L option
is equivalent.


The -t option specifies the time to wait for a request
before closing the connection. A value of 0 waits forever.
The default is 60 seconds.


Options to in.fingerd should be specified in
/etc/inetd.conf.


The finger protocol consists mostly of specifying command
arguments. The inetd(8) ``super-server'' runs
in.fingerd for TCP requests received on port
79. Once connected in.fingerd reads a single command line
terminated by a CRLF which is passed to
finger(1). It closes its connec- tions as soon as
all output is finished.


If the line is empty (i.e. just a CRLF is
sent) then finger returns a ``default'' report that
lists all people logged into the system at that moment. This
feature is blocked by the -u option.


If a user name is specified (e.g. eric CRLF )
then the response lists more extended information for only
that par- ticular user, whether logged in or not. Allowable
``names'' in the command line include both ``login names''
and ``user names''. If a name is ambiguous, all possible
derivations are returned.
__SEE ALSO__


finger(1), inetd(8)
__RESTRICTIONS__


Connecting directly to the server from a TIP
or an equally narrow-minded TELNET -protocol
user program can result in meaningless attempts at option
negotiation being sent to the server, which will foul up the
command line interpretation.
__HISTORY__


The finger daemon appeared in 4.3 BSD
.


Linux NetKit (0.17) August 29, 1996 1
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One page links to in.fingerd(8):

Man8i

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Version 1, saved on Monday, June 3, 2002 11:58:44 pm by "perry"

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