---
name: "efingerd"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "efingerd"
version: "1.6.7-1+b2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/efingerd"
---

# efingerd(8)

another finger daemon for linux

## 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

- **-i**

  Use ident service to query the name of the fingerer

- **-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 making  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 its 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)](/finger/1.md), [fingerd(8)](/fingerd/8.md)

## AUTHOR

Radovan Garabík (garabik@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk)

## BUGS

file .efingerd in user's home directory must be executable and readable by UID efingerd runs under to work.