finger (1)
NAME
finger - Local GNU finger system
SYNOPSIS
finger [options] [name ...]
DESCRIPTION
This site is running a customized version of the GNU finger system,
which replaces the Berkeley finger(1) command. Its main advantage is
that it keeps track of all machines and users on the local network,
dispensing with the need to know a particular person's workstation
name.
There are two basic usages. Without a name argument, information about
all currently logged-in users is displayed. With one or more name
specified, finger displays information about people known to the system
and matching those names. The default output format is to display a
one-line summary about the most recent login(s) of people (one for each
machine). This gives enough information to quickly determine if some-
body is currently on the system and where to reach him/her (including
room number and phone extension if known).
Of course name can be of the form user@host to request finger informa-
tion from any host on the Internet. In this case, however, the output
format will depend entirely on the finger system running on the remote
host. (Chances are that it will be something closer to the traditional
Berkeley finger.) Note that user@host should be unnecessary as long as
host is another local machine and user is not the special .local name
(see below).
OPTIONS
A few options allow modifying the output format.
-info Display full information about a user, including office location,
office and home phone numbers (if available), home directory and
login shell, mail disposition (when last read or where for-
warded), project and plan information.
-face Display a users face bitmap, if available. The special .faces
name (see below) allows you to obtain a list of all publicly
listed faces. Faces can only be displayed on Sun consoles or
under the X window system. This option applies only to the name
immediately following; repeat it before each user name you want a
face for.
-width spec
Changes the output width of the fields "Name", "What", "Host" and
"Where" in short finger output. spec is a comma-separated list
of width specifiers. A width specifier is a integer which may be
preceded by `+' or `-'. Without preceeding `+' or `-' this speci-
fier sets the width to the given number. `+' or `-' increments or
decrements the width accordingly. A specifier making the width
less or equal to zero supresses the field.
-l The same as -info for backward compatibility with Berkeley fin-
(even if not currently on the system).
.local Lists local logins only, i.e., only for the local machine or
the one specified by @host.
.faces Lists all available face bitmap names.
.free Lists all machines deemed not to be currently in use. Don't
take this as an invitation to hog somebody else's worksta-
tion.
.clients Lists the status of all machines on the network (as far as
known to finger).
.help Prints a short usage summary.
.site Prints site identification.
.version Gives version information.
OUTSIDE FINGERS
When the local finger system is contacted from a `non-local' host (as
defined by the system administrator), .users, .free and .clients are
disabled for security reasons. Note that -info and -face on a remote
system require a GNU finger installed on that system.
FACE DISPLAY
Faces requested with the -face option can be displayed under either X11
or SunView. For each name a window containing the face bitmap is
popped up. Several buttons request additional action.
finger starts an ordinary (textual) finger request to the address
corresponding to the displayed face, and shows the result in
a popup window.
Save dumps the bitmap to a file in the same directory the finger
daemon uses to lookup local bitmaps. This may not be very
useful for the ordinary user. Define the environment vari-
able MUGSHOT_PATH to use a different directory instead.
Print sends a PostScript rendering of the face to the printer. To
use a non-default printer set the environment variable
PRINTER.
Quit pops down the window.
CUSTOMIZING FINGER INFO
You are encouraged to keep the information displayed by finger up-to-
date to maximize usefulness of the system. The office and phone infor-
mation displayed in the header of the long listing can be modified
using the chfn(1) command. On SunOS machines, when asked for the
`Name', enter a line of items separated by commas, using the format:
real name,office number,phone extension,home phone
On Ultrix systems, chfn prompts for each of these items separately so
you don't have to worry about the format.
to be included in the global face listing produced by finger .faces the
bitmap needs to be installed in /usr/local/images/finger.
FINGERRC SCRIPTS
The ultimate in personalized finger response is possible through the
use of a .fingerrc file in your home directory. This script or pro-
gram, if present and executable, is expected to generate the text you
want presented in response to a `long' finger request. The file has to
be an executable owned by you, not be group or world writable, and have
no set user/group id flags. It is executed in your home directory, as
user "nobody" to prevent accidentally giving out private information.
To make it easy to modify the default output format, the regular long
finger text is given as the script's standard input. Also, three argu-
ments are provided: the fingerer's host name or address, the word local
or remote depending on where the finger request originated, and the
fingerer's user name (an empty string if the name cannot be deter-
mined). If .fingerrc terminates with a non-zero exit status it is
assumed to have failed. The default output is generated in this case.
FILES
~/.project Project description.
~/.plan Plan description.
~/.fingerrc Personalized finger info script.
~/.face Private face bitmap.
/usr/ucb/finger Original BSD finger program.
/usr/ccrma/share/finger/hostconfig
Name of finger server host.
/usr/ccrma/share/finger/ttylocs
List of machine and terminal locations.
/usr/ccrma/share/finger/targets
Special target implementation scripts.
/usr/local/images/finger Public face bitmap repository.
SEE ALSO
chfn(1), finger(1), fingerd(8), cfingerd(8), hostconfig(5), Emacs Info
on finger.
BUGS
The login information for -info output is for the local machine only.
-face requires name to be the login name exactly.
Berkeley finger options other than -l are not recognized.
The .fingerrc script is executed with only a minimal environment, mean-
ing that it has to set up a suitable PATH and other environment vari-
ables itself if needed.
.fingerrc is simply ignored on hosts where the user has no valid login
shell; arguably the request should be passed on to another machine in
this case.
$Date: 1994/07/25 06:08:38 $ finger(1)