Table of Contents
Finger Service
The Synchronet Finger Service (exec/fingerservice.js) supports the following protocols:
- Finger over UDP (non-standard, deprecated)
- Active Users (a.k.a. SYSTAT (protocol)) over TCP and UDP (RFC 866)
Note: Active Users over UDP is required for inter-bbs Instant Message support.
Configuration
Example configurations (in ctrl/services.ini):
[Finger] Port=79 Options=NO_HOST_LOOKUP Command=fingerservice.js
[ActiveUser-UDP] Port=11 Options=UDP | NO_HOST_LOOKUP Command=fingerservice.js -u
Example configurations (in ctrl/modopts.ini);
[fingerservice] include_age = true include_gender = true include_location = true include_real_name = true findfile = false bbslist = false
Command-line options
Add to the command lines shown above to change the behavior of the Finger service:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
-n | Eliminate user age and gender information from the query results |
-a | Report user aliases only (no real names) |
-ff | Enable the findfile feature (requires a “Guest” user account) |
-u | Report users currently online only (ignore any request), a.k.a. Active Users protocol |
Plan Files
Each BBS user may have their own finger-readable plan file stored as data/user/####.plan where #### is the user's account number on the BBS. This file can be viewed, edited, or deleted on the BBS (Terminal Server) by using the PLAN string command (e.g. type the ;PLAN command, using most command shells).
Special Requests
The normal Finger protocol usage is to request information on a specific user-ID/name (sent by the client). The Synchronet Finger Service (when not run in Active Users protocol mode), supports the following Special Requests as well:
| Request | Description |
|---|---|
?ver | Synchronet version information |
?uptime | Current system up-time |
?time | Current system time |
?logon.lst | BBS Logon list |
?auto.msg | BBS auto-message |
?sockopts | Current socket options |
?stats | BBS Statistics |
?nodelist | BBS node list |
?services | Other TCP/IP Services enabled/running |
?findfile | Find a file (enabled with the -ff option) |
Additional Special Requests
You can have additional files available for query via Finger Special Request by placing the files in the data/finger directory. Such files may be request remotely with a request to finger ?filename, where filename is the name of the file to be sent.
