FINGERD(8)

NAME
fingerd - remote user information server

SYNOPSIS
fingerd [-wl]

DESCRIPTION
Fingerd is a simple protocol based on that provides an interface to the “name” and “finger” programs 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 particular person in depth.

If the -w option is given, remote users will get an additional "Welcome to ..." banner which also shows some informations (e.g. uptime, operating system name and release) about the system the fingerd is running on.

If the -l option is given, information about requests made is logged.

There is no required format and the protocol consists mostly of specifying a single “command line”.

Fingerd listens for TCP requests at port 79. Once connected it reads a single command line terminated by a <CRLF> which is passed to finger(1). Fingerd closes its connections as soon as the output is finished.

If the line is null (i.e. just a <CRLF> is sent) then finger returns a “default” report that lists all people logged into the system at that moment.

If a user name is specified (e.g. eric<CRLF>) then the response lists more extended information for only that particular 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)

BUGS
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. Fingerd should be taught to filter out IAC's and perhaps even respond negatively (IAC WON'T) to all option commands received.

HISTORY
The fingerd command appeared in 4.3BSD.