.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
.\" @(#)fingerd.8 6.5 (Berkeley) %G%
.Nd remote user information server
is a simple protocol based on
that provides an interface to the
Name and Finger programs at several network sites.
The program is supposed to return a friendly,
human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment
or a particular person in depth.
There is no required format and the
protocol consists mostly of specifying a single
Once connected it reads a single command line
closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.
If the line is null (i.e. just a
report that lists all people logged into
the system at that moment.
If a user name is specified (e.g.
response lists more extended information for only that particular user,
whether logged in or not.
in the command line include both
If a name is ambiguous, all possible derivations are returned.
The following options may be passed to
as server program arguments in
Queries without a user name are rejected and
forwarding of queries to other remote hosts is denied.
The name of the host originating the query is reported via
Use an alternate program as the local information provider.
The default local program
By specifying a customized local server,
this option allows a system manager
to have more control over what information is
provided to remote sites.
Connecting directly to the server from a
or an equally narrow-minded
in meaningless attempts at option negotiation being sent to the
server, which will foul up the command line interpretation.
should be taught to filter out
to all option commands received.
projects / unix-history / blob