INETD.CONF(5)

NAME
inetd.conf - Internet servers database

DESCRIPTION

The inetd.conf file contains the list of servers that inetd(8C) 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 spaces 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
    is 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,
        rdm for a “reliably delivered message” socket, or
        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
    is nowait for all but “single-threaded” datagram servers — servers which do not release the socket until a timeout occurs (such as comsat(8C) and talkd(8C)). These must have the status wait. Although tftpd(8C) establishes separate “pseudo-connections”, its forking behavior can lead to a race condition unless it is also given the status wait.

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

server-program
    is 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
services(5), comsat(8C), inetd(8C), talkd(8C), tftpd(8C)

BUGS

inetd dumps core when the inetd.conf file contains blank lines.