NAME
	  inetd	- The internet super-server

     SYNOPSIS
	  inetd	[-d] [configfile]


     FLAGS
	  -d	    Dumps debugging messages to	syslogd(8) and to
		    standard error.

	  configfile
		    By default,	this file is /etc/inetd.conf.  It con-
		    tains configuration	information that the daemon
		    reads at startup.


     DESCRIPTION
	  The inetd daemon should be run at boot time by inetd in
	  etc/init.d. It then listens for connections on certain
	  Internet sockets.  When a connection is found	on one of its
	  sockets, it decides what service the socket corresponds to,
	  and invokes a	program	to service the request.	 After the
	  program is finished, it continues to listen on the socket
	  (except in some cases	that are later in this manpage.
	  Essentially, inetd allows running one	daemon to invoke
	  several others, reducing load	on the system.

	  Upon execution, inetd	reads its configuration	information
	  from a configuration file, which, by default,	is
	  /etc/inetd.conf.  There must be an entry for each field of
	  the configuration file, with entries for each	field
	  separated by a tab or	a space.  Comments are denoted by a #
	  (number sign)	at the beginning of a line.  There must	be an
	  entry	for each field.	 The fields of the configuration file
	  are as follows:

	  ServiceName SocketType ProtocolName  Wait/Nowait UserName ServerPath ServerArgs

	  The ServiceName entry	is the name of a valid service in the
	  /etc/services/ file.	For internal services (discussed
	  below), the service name must	be the official	name of	the
	  service (that	is, the	first entry in /etc/services).

	  The SocketType should	be one of stream, dgram, raw, rdm, or
	  seqpacket, depending on whether the socket is	a stream,
	  datagram, raw, reliably delivered message, or	sequenced
	  packet socket.

	  The ProtocolName must	be a valid protocol as given in
	  /etc/protocols.  Examples might be tcp or udp.

	  The Wait/Nowait entry	is applicable to datagram sockets only
	  (other sockets should	have a nowait entry in this space).
	  If a datagram	server connects	to its peer, freeing the
	  socket so inetd can receive further messages on the socket,
	  it is	said to	be a multithreaded server, and should use the
	  nowait entry.	 For datagram servers that process all incom-
	  ing datagrams	on a socket and	eventually time	out, the
	  server is said to be single-threaded,	and should use a wait
	  entry.  comsat (biff)	and talk are both examples of the
	  latter type of datagram server.  tftpd is an exception; it
	  is a datagram	server that establishes	pseudoconnections.  It
	  must be listed as wait in order to avoid a race; the server
	  reads	the first packet, creates a new	socket,	and then forks
	  and exits to allow inetd to check for	new service requests
	  to spawn new servers.

	  The UserName entry should contain the	username of the	user
	  as whom the server should run.  This allows for servers to
	  be given less	permission than	root.  The ServerPath entry
	  should contain the pathname of the program that is to	be
	  executed by inetd when a request is found on its socket.  If
	  inetd	provides this service internally, this entry should be
	  internal.

	  The arguments	to the ServerPath should be just as they nor-
	  mally	are, starting with argv[0], which is the name of the
	  program.  If the service is provided internally, the value
	  internal should take the place of this entry.

	  The inetd daemon provides several trivial services inter-
	  nally	by use of routines within itself.  These services are
	  echo,	discard, chargen (character generator),	daytime
	  (human-readable time), and time (machine-readable time, in
	  the form of the number of seconds since midnight January 1,
	  1900).  All of these services	are tcp	based.	For details of
	  these	services, consult the appropriate RFC from the Network
	  Information Center.

	  The inetd daemon rereads its configuration file when it
	  receives a hangup signal, SIGHUP.  Services may be added,
	  deleted, or modified when the	configuration file is reread.

     FILES
	  /usr/sbin/inetd
		    Specifies the command path.

	  /etc/inetd.conf
		    Contains information on the	services used for the
		    Internet sockets in	the system.

	  /etc/services
		    Contains the names of official and unofficial
		    Internet services used in the system.

	  /etc/protocols
		    Contains the names of the Internet protocols
		    implemented	in the system.


     RELATED INFORMATION
	  Commands:  comsat(8)

	  Daemons:  fingerd(8),	ftpd(8), rexecd(8), rlogind(8),
	  rshd(8), telnetd(8), tftpd(8)