/etc/inetd.conf

Super-server configuration file

Name:

/etc/inetd.conf

Description:

The inetd.conf file is the default configuration file for the inetd (super-server) daemon. As shipped, this file describes all currently supported QNX TCP/IP daemons. Unless you want to add or remove daemon definitions, you won't need to modify this file.

Here are the fields in the configuration file:

service name

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 (i.e. the first entry in /etc/services).

socket type

One of stream, dgram, or raw, depending on whether the socket is a stream, datagram, or raw socket.

protocol

A valid protocol in /etc/protocols. For example, tcp or udp. For RPC daemons, the underlying protocol must also be specified, followed by a / (e.g rpc/udp).

wait/nowait

Sockets other than datagram 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's said to be a multi-threaded server and should use the nowait entry.

If a datagram server processes all incoming datagrams on a socket and eventually times out, that server is said to be single-threaded and should use a wait entry. The tftpd daemon is an exception

it's a datagram server that establishes pseudo-connections. 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 let inetd check for new service requests to spawn new servers.

user

The name of the user that the server will run as. This allows servers to be given less permission than root.

server program

The pathname of the program to be executed by inetd when a request is found on inetd's socket. If the desired service is provided internally by inetd (e.g. see echo in the inetd utility page), this field would contain the word internal.

server program arguments

Any arguments to be passed to the server program. The name of the program is passed as argv[0]. If the server program field is internal, you can leave this field blank.

Examples:

The following is an example from a working inetd.conf file:

ftp  stream tcp nowait root  /usr/ucb/ftpd  in.ftpd -el

where:

ftp

Is the service name (see /etc/services).

stream

Is the socket type.

tcp

Is the protocol.

nowait

Is the wait/nowait entry.

root

Is the user.

/usr/ucb/ftpd

Is the server program.

in.ftpd

Is argv[0] (server program arguments).

-el

Is argv[1] (server program arguments).

See also:

inetd

The inetd daemon section in the Basic Configuration chapter