| 1 | .\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California. |
| 2 | .\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement |
| 3 | .\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution. |
| 4 | .\" |
| 5 | .\" @(#)fingerd.8 6.1 (Berkeley) %G% |
| 6 | .\" |
| 7 | .TH FINGERD 8C "" |
| 8 | .UC 6 |
| 9 | .SH NAME |
| 10 | fingerd \- remote user information server |
| 11 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
| 12 | .B /etc/fingerd |
| 13 | .SH DESCRIPTION |
| 14 | .I Fingerd |
| 15 | is a simple protocol based on RFC742 that provides an interface to the |
| 16 | Name and Finger programs at several network sites. |
| 17 | The program is supposed to return a friendly, |
| 18 | human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment |
| 19 | or a particular person in depth. |
| 20 | There is no required format and the |
| 21 | protocol consists mostly of specifying a single ``command line''. |
| 22 | .PP |
| 23 | .I Fingerd |
| 24 | listens for TCP requests at port 79. |
| 25 | Once connected it reads a single command line |
| 26 | terminated by a <CRLF> which is passed to |
| 27 | .IR finger (1). |
| 28 | .I Fingerd |
| 29 | closes its connections as soon as the output is finished. |
| 30 | .PP |
| 31 | If the line is null (i.e. just a <CRLF> is sent) then |
| 32 | .I finger |
| 33 | returns a ``default'' report that lists all people logged into |
| 34 | the system at that moment. |
| 35 | .PP |
| 36 | If a user name is specified (e.g. eric<CRLF>) then the |
| 37 | response lists more extended information for only that particular user, |
| 38 | whether logged in or not. |
| 39 | Allowable ``names'' in the command line include both ``login names'' |
| 40 | and ``user names''. |
| 41 | If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned. |
| 42 | .SH SEE ALSO |
| 43 | finger(1) |
| 44 | .SH BUGS |
| 45 | Connecting directly to the server from a TIP |
| 46 | or an equally narrow-minded TELNET-protocol user program can result |
| 47 | in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the |
| 48 | server, which will foul up the command line interpretation. |
| 49 | .I Fingerd |
| 50 | should be taught to filter out IAC's and perhaps even respond |
| 51 | negatively (IAC WON'T) to all option commands received. |