Finger (protocol)

Short description: Simple network protocols for the exchange of human-oriented status and user information

In computer networking, the Name/Finger protocol and the Finger user information protocol are simple network protocols for the exchange of human-oriented status and user information.

Name/Finger protocol

The Name/Finger protocol is based on Request for Comments document RFC 742 (December 1977) as an interface to the name and finger programs that provide status reports on a particular computer system or a particular person at network sites. The finger program was written in 1971 by Les Earnest who created the program to solve the need of users who wanted information on other users of the network. Information on who is logged in was useful to check the availability of a person to meet. This was probably the earliest form of presence information for remote network users.

Prior to the finger program, the only way to get this information on WAITS was with a WHO program that showed IDs and terminal line numbers (the server's internal number of the communication line, over which the user's terminal is connected) for logged-in users. In reference to the name FINGER, Les Earnest, wrote that he saw users of the WAITS time-sharing system run their fingers down the output of the WHO command.

For these reasons, by the late 1990s the vast majority of sites on the Internet no longer offered the service.

Application support

It is implemented on Unix (like macOS), Unix-like systems (like Linux and FreeBSD), and current versions of Windows (finger.exe command). Other software has finger support:

• ELinks
• Lynx
• Minuet
• Kristall
• Lagrange

See also

• LDAP
• Ph Protocol
• Social network service
• WebFinger

External links

• RFC 742 (December 1977)
• RFC 1288 (December 1991)