RFC 742 (rfc742) - Page 1 of 7

NAME/FINGER Protocol

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NWG/RFC# 742                                  KLH 30-Dec-77 08:31  42758
Network Working Group                                     K. Harrenstien
Request for Comments: 742                                         SRI-KL
NIC: 42758                                              30 December 1977



                              NAME/FINGER




Introduction

   This note describes the Name/Finger protocol.  This is a simple
   protocol which provides an interface to the Name and Finger programs
   at several network sites.  These programs return a friendly,
   human-oriented status report on either the system at the moment or a
   particular person in depth.  Currently only the SAIL (SU-AI), SRI
   (SRI-(KA/KL)), and ITS (MIT-(AI/ML/MC/DMS)) sites support this
   protocol, but there are other systems with similar programs that
   could easily be made servers; there is no required format and the
   protocol consists mostly of specifying a single "command line".

To use via the network:

   ICP to socket 117 (octal, 79. decimal) and establish two 8-bit
   connections.

   Send a single "command line", ending with .

   Receive information which will vary depending on the above line and
   the particular system.  The server closes its connections as soon as
   this output is finished.

The command line:

   Systems may differ in their interpretations of this line.  However,
   the basic scheme is straightforward:  if the line is null (i.e. just
   a  is sent) then the server should return a "default" report
   which lists all people using the system at that moment.  If on the
   other hand a user name is specified (e.g. FOO) then the
   response should concern only that particular user, whether logged in
   or not.

   Both ITS and SAIL sites allow several names to be included on the
   line, separated by commas; but the syntax for some servers can be
   slightly more elaborate.  For example, if "/W" (called the "Whois
   switch") also appears on the line given to an ITS server, much fuller
   descriptions are returned.  The complete documentation may be found
   at any time in the files ".INFO.;NAME ORDER" on MIT-AI,
   "FINGER.LES[UP,DOC]" on SU-AI, and "FINGER.DOC" on
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