forked from institute/wiki
64 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
64 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
<!--
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title: Finger
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author: ahriman
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description: Getting started with fingerd
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-->
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# Finger
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The finger protocol was created way back in 1977. its purpose was to
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display information about the queried user of a system, or all the users
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of a system.
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It fell out of use in the 1990s due to various security concerns. the
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old finger daemons were buggy and easily exploited, while the
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information garnered from a query could be used for social engineering
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attacks. nowadays, the finger daemons have been refined and are no longer
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so vulnerable.
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In the post-Facebook world, new types of social networks are
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popping up. the latest in this movement is a resurgence of the finger
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protocol. what follows is a rough guide for getting yourself up to speed
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with finger on tilde.institute.
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## Querying
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The standard query for finger is simply
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```
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finger user@host
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```
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which displays login name, home directory, shell, real name, current login
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time, idle time, whether or not the user has mail, and the contents of
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the user's `~/.plan` file. Here is an example of the output:
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```
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Login: username Name: Bob Bobson XXII
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Directory: /home/username Shell: /bin/bash
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On since Wed Jan 2 04:04 (EST) on pts/94 from 168.297.83.21 via mosh [6420]
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8 minutes 26 seconds idle
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Last login Wed Jan 2 04:33 (EST) on pts/91 from 168.297.83.21
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No mail.
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Plan: hey hey hey everybody!
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```
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## .plan
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The `~/.plan` file displayed at the end of the finger query response
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allows for some customization. You can put literally any text you want
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there. Status updates, summaries, etc. This little file allows us to use
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finger as a rudimentary social network.
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For example, say you want to use it as a personal summary, like having
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a blurb about what you're working on. Place the statement into `~/.plan`
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and you're ready to go!
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For a more traditional social network style format, put dated and timed
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status updates as if you're tooting on a mastodon instance. The sky's
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the limit! Well, actually, text is the limit. But you get the idea. Right?
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Hope to see you on finger soon!
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[back](/)
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