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1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
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32.\" @(#)fingerd.8 6.4 (Berkeley) 3/16/91
33.\"
34.Dd March 16, 1991
35.Dt FINGERD 8
36.Os BSD 4.3
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm fingerd
39.Nd remote user information server
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm fingerd
42.Sh DESCRIPTION
43.Nm Fingerd
44is a simple protocol based on
45.%T RFC742
46that provides an interface to the
47Name and Finger programs 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 Fingerd
56listens for
57.Tn TCP
58requests at port 79.
59Once connected it reads a single command line
60terminated by a
61.Aq Tn CRLF
62which is passed to
63.Xr finger 1 .
64.Nm Fingerd
65closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
66.Pp
67If the line is null (i.e. just a
68.Aq Tn CRLF
69is sent) then
70.Xr finger
71returns a
72.Dq default
73report that lists all people logged into
74the system at that moment.
75.Pp
76If a user name is specified (e.g.
77.Pf eric Aq Tn CRLF )
78then the
79response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
80whether logged in or not.
81Allowable
82.Dq names
83in the command line include both
84.Dq login names
85and
86.Dq user names .
87If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
88.Sh SEE ALSO
89.Xr finger 1
90.Sh BUGS
91Connecting directly to the server from a
92.Tn TIP
93or an equally narrow-minded
94.Tn TELNET Ns \-protocol
95user program can result
96in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the
97server, which will foul up the command line interpretation.
98.Nm Fingerd
99should be taught to filter out
100.Tn IAC Ns \'s
101and perhaps even respond
102negatively
103.Pq Tn IAC WON'T
104to all option commands received.
105.Sh HISTORY
106The
107.Nm
108command appeared in
109.Bx 4.3 .