Finger Service for Windows NT
Version 1.2

Copyright 1994, Charles Calkins

Overview:

     Windows NT 3.1 provides a finger client, but does not provide a finger 
service.  After getting my machine networked, I realized this deficiency and 
hacked together a finger service.  No warranties expressed or implied, use at 
your own risk and all that, but it runs properly on test systems available to 
me.  If you use it, please send me e-mail and let me know what you think, what
you would like to see improve, etc.
     Version 1.1 and above now includes a special user "quote" - see below 
for details


What's New:

1.2	Extended quote attribution
1.1 	Added quote behavior
1.0	Initial release

Installation:

1> Log into NT with an account with Administrator privilege
2> Place fingerd.exe in a directory of your choice.  My tests have shown it
   to execute from anywhere, but one person reported it only successfully
   worked from \winnt\system32.
3> type

	fingerd install start

If all went well, it should print a copyright notice and two lines of text, 
the first stating that it has installed itself, and the second reporting that 
the service has been started.  That's it.  To test it, type:

	finger @yourmachine

	where yourmachine is the hostname of your machine.


Other command line options:

     Several command line options are supported, and nonconflicting options
(like install and start) can be included on the same command line.

	install		Install the service
	remove		Remove the service
	start		Start the service
	stop		Stop the service
	int		Run interactively

     Interactive mode runs the service as a regular process and not a service
(and thus does not require administrator privilege).  Its useful for testing,
but not much else.  One could put it in one's startup group like this, however,
though that configuration has not been tested.  If it is running as a user and
not as a service, however, some processes will not be able to be examined for
user info, and thus not all users with active processes will be reported.


Quote server:

     fingerd can now act as a quote server by fingering the special user
"quote".  If a file "quotes.dat" is present in the same directory as 
fingerd.exe when it starts, finger quote@machine will retrieve a quote from 
that file.  Quotes.dat has the following format:

~Attribution for quotes #1 and #2
Quote #1
~
Quote #2
~Attribution for quote #3
Quote #3's first line
Quote #3's second line
~

     When "quote" is fingered, a random quote is chosen and returned to the
user, with "From <attribution>" following.  In the above example, if quote #1
or #2 is chosen, the first attribution is returned.  If quote #3 is chosen,
the second attribution is returned.  Note the placing of the ~'s.  The file
must begin and end with ~'s, and quotes must be separated by ~'s.  If an 
attribution is present, it must not have a space between the associated ~ and
the start of the attribution.  Quotes may be multiple lines - anything between
the ~'s for that quote entry is displayed.

     For instance, I use this mechanism on Trixie (trixie.cec.wustl.edu) to
return quotes from Japanese Anime movies I have seen.  I use the attribution
area for the episode, and then give a number of quotes from that episode.
     Note that this could be a mechanism for general information, or whatever
is desired if I receive feedback (e.g. I could add a fingerable "help", for 
instance).  Let me know if this would be useful - for me, "quote" is 
sufficient.


Administrative info:

     Standard legalese applies.  I take no responsibility for any ill effects
this application may have on your system, and provide no warranties to its 
operation.  Use at your own risk.  It runs fine on systems available to me, 
but if your hard disk suddenly explodes, don't say I didn't warn you.  It has
also been tested with version 1.0 of the Ataman telnet and rlogin services
and will report processes by these users as well.
     I'm releasing this as freeware, as it was more an exercise in Windows NT
programming than anything else.  The finger protocol was inspired by
Lee Murach's TXTSRV (c. 1993), and the mechanism for retrieving user info
gleaned from the Win32 SDK.

						Charles Calkins
						calkinsc@swarm.wustl.edu  or
						calkinsc@tardis.union.edu or
						crc2@cec.wustl.edu or
						calkinsc@aol.com