NAME

inetd.conf − Internet servers database

DESCRIPTION

The inetd.conf file contains the list of servers that inetd(1M) invokes when it receives an Internet request over a socket.  Each server entry is composed of a single line of the form:

service-name  socket-type  protocol  wait-status  uid  server-program  server-arguments

Fields can be separated by either SPACE or TAB characters.  A ‘#’ (pound-sign) indicates the beginning of a comment; characters up to the end of the line are not interpreted by routines that search this file. 

service-name The name of a valid service listed in the file /etc/services.  For RPC services, the value of the service-name field consists of the RPC service name, followed by a slash and either a version number or a range of version numbers (for example, mountd/1). 

socket-type Can be one of:

stream for a stream socket,

dgram for a datagram socket,

raw for a raw socket,

seqpacket for a sequenced packet socket

protocol Must be a recognized protocol listed in the file /etc/protocols.  For RPC services, the field consists of the string “rpc” followed by a slash and the name of the protocol (for example, rpc/udp for an RPC service using the UDP protocol as a transport mechanism). 

wait-status nowait for all but “single-threaded” datagram servers — servers which do not release the socket until a timeout occurs (such as comsat(1M) and talkd(1M)).  These must have the status wait.  Although tftpd(1M) establishes separate “pseudo-connections”, its forking behavior can lead to a race condition unless it is also given the status wait. 

uid The user ID under which the server should run.  This allows servers to run with access privileges other than those for root. 

server-program Either the pathname of a server program to be invoked by inetd to perform the requested service, or the value internal if inetd itself provides the service. 

server-arguments If a server must be invoked with command-line arguments, the entire command line (including argument 0) must appear in this field (which consists of all remaining words in the entry).  If the server expects inetd to pass it the address of its peer (for compatibility with 4.2BSD executable daemons), then the first argument to the command should be specified as ‘%A’. 

FILES

/etc/inetd.conf

/etc/services

/etc/protocols

SEE ALSO

rlogin(1), rsh(1), comsat(1M), inetd(1M), talkd(1M), tftpd(1M), services(4)

  —  Internet Utilities