The Finger Protocol Renaissance
===============================

Exploring a forgotten corner of the network: RFC 1288 and the
Finger protocol.

Finger is still useful for local status checks, .plan messages,
and retro-style user information displays. It is a simple
protocol that provides a small glimpse into classic Unix network
culture.


Download the Source
-------------------

	wget ftp://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/Networking/netkit/bsd-finger-0.17.tar.gz


Extract
-------

	tar xzf bsd-finger-0.17.tar.gz
	cd bsd-finger-0.17/finger


Apply a time.h Patch to Fix Compilation
---------------------------------------

	sed -i '1i #include <time.h>' lprint.c
	sed -i '1i #include <time.h>' sprint.c


Compile
-------

	make CFLAGS="-std=gnu89"


Install
-------

	sudo mkdir -p /usr/man/man1
	sudo make install


Example ~/.plan Content
-----------------------

	echo "Tinkering with TinyCore Linux and breaking things on purpose." \
		> ~/.plan


Run Finger Locally
------------------

	finger tc


Example Output
--------------

	Login: tc                               Name: Linux User
	Directory: /home/tc                     Shell: /bin/sh

	On since Tue Mar 17 09:26 (CET) on pts/1 from 192.168.1.129

	1 second idle
	(messages off)

	Mail last read Tue Mar 17 06:20 2026 (CET)

	Plan:
	Tinkering with TinyCore Linux and breaking things on purpose.


Notes
-----

The Finger protocol was defined in RFC 1288 and was widely used on
Unix systems for publishing user information.

Modern systems rarely expose Finger services publicly, but the
protocol remains useful for local environments, testing, and
nostalgic exploration of classic Unix networking.