EFINGERD(8) System Manager's Manual EFINGERD(8)NAME
efingerd - another finger daemon for linux
SYNOPSIS
efingerd [-t X] [-f] [-n] [-u] [--help] [--version]
efingerd should be run from inetd.
DESCRIPTION
efingerd is another finger daemon, giving you complete control over what are you going to display about your computer.
OPTIONS --help Show summary of options and exit.
--version
Show version and exit.
-t X Lifetime for spawned services (in seconds) ex: -t 25 maintain connections for up to 25 seconds (default: -t 60)
-n Do not lookup addresses, use IP numbers instead
-f Do not display users' full names.
-u Ignore user-specific .efingerd file
USAGE
If you are just an ordinary user and efingerd is already installed by your friendly administrator, you can take the advantage of it by mak-
ing executable .efingerd in your home directory (it can be anything - from single shell script to a program in super-hyper-extra-object
oriented language - only speed makes a difference). This program takes two arguments, the first is the name of remote user fingering you
(or (null) if his/her/its system does not run ident), the second one is address of his computer (or ip number, if efingerd is installed
with option -n). Standard output of this program is then displayed to the person fingering you. Look at examples/.efingerd for a nice
example.
Following executables are providing information about your machine to the fingerer:
/etc/efingerd/list
what to display when somebody does finger @your.machine
/etc/efingerd/luser
what to display when somebody fingers user on your machine, and the fingered user does not have ~/.efingerd file
/etc/efingerd/nouser
what to display when somebody fingers non-existent user on your machine
If the local user has file .efingerd in his/her/its home directory, and it is readable by the daemon, it will be executed and it's output
will be served to the fingerer.
These are normal programs, displaying on standard output desired information. These programs are called with following parameters:
$1 - identity of remote user, (null) if his/her/its system is not running ident
$2 - address of remote machine (IP number if it has not reverse DNS entry or you specified -n)
$3 - name of local user being fingered
Look at examples/ for examples. Don't forget that these programs must be executable by efingerd daemon.
SEE ALSO finger(1), fingerd(8)AUTHOR
Radovan Garabik (garabik@fmph.uniba.sk)
BUGS
file .efingerd in user's home directory must be executable and readable by UID efingerd runs under to work.
EFINGERD(8)
Check Out this Related Man Page
finger(1) General Commands Manual finger(1)NAME
finger, f - Displays user information
SYNOPSIS
finger [-bfhilmpqsw] [user...]
The finger command displays information about the users in the passwd file.
OPTIONS
Produces a briefer version of long format output. Suppresses display of header line (the first line that defines the displayed fields).
Suppresses printing of files in long and brief long formats. Produces a quick listing with idle times. Forces long output format.
Assumes user specified is an account name, not a given name or surname. Suppresses printing of files in long and brief long formats. Pro-
duces a quick listing, including only login name, terminal name, and login time. Forces short output format. Forces narrow, short format
listing.
DESCRIPTION
By default, information for each user on the host is listed. This information includes the login name, terminal name and write status (an *
(asterisk)) before the terminal name appears (if write permission is denied), and login time.
The finger command uses a longer output format when you specify a user or a list of users. You can use account name, given name, or sur-
name (as listed in /etc/passwd) to specify users. This multiline format includes the information described previously, as well as full
name, office number, and phone number (if known); the user's home directory and login shell; idle time; any plan that the user has placed
in the file in the user's home directory; and the project on which the user is working from the file in the home directory. (Idle time is
minutes if it is a single integer, hours and minutes if a : (colon) is present, or days and hours if a d is present.)
If a host is not specified, the information is for users on the local host; otherwise, the information is for users at the specified host.
You can specify a user on a remote host by using the form user@host; if you specify @host alone, the standard format listing is provided on
the remote system. If a long format printout is to be produced, the -l option is passed to the remote finger daemon. No other options are
honored for remote finger queries.
The finger command displays user information only if the specified host has a fingerd server running or inetd is configured to start fin-
gerd. If fingerd is not running, the command returns a "Connection refused" error message. (For more information on setting up this
server for your host, see the fingerd(8) daemon reference page.)
If you want to make information available to other users who run finger on your user ID, you can create the following files in your home
directory: A file that contains plans. The file can contain more than one line. A file that states what project you are currently working
on. The file can contain only one line.
The f command is a supported alias for the finger command.
EXAMPLES
To get information about user frankel at host1, enter: $ finger frankel@host1 Login name: frankel In real life: Sam Frankel
Office: 3D08 ext5555 Home phone: 555-9982 Directory: /u/frankel Shell: /usr/bin/sh Last login Thu Jun 28
10:37 on tty56 from venus.abc.org No plan. To get information about user chen at host1, when chen has both a and a file in his home direc-
tory, enter: $ finger chen@host1 Login name: chen In real life: A. B. Chen Office: 3D10 ext5322
Home phone: 210-9876 Directory: /u/chen Shell: /usr/bin/sh On since May 16 11:06 on tty3 1 minute 2 seconds Idle
Time Project: aquatic entomology Plan: Complete Phase 1 research by end of second quarter. Produce draft report by end of year. To get
information about all users logged in to the host host1, enter: $ finger @host1
FILES
Contains user and accounting information. Contains user information. Contains last login times. Contains a user's plan. (Optional file)
Contains one-line description of a user's project assignment. (Optional file)
SEE ALSO
Commands: fingerd(8), hostname(1), inetd(8), rwho(1), users(1)finger(1)