15 Jan
2026
15 Jan
'26
12:24 a.m.
On 2026-01-14 12:28, Keith Halewood wrote:
I've put an explicit '(end)' line on the
output from DUNE's finger
server.
From GUARD, a call to DUNE's finger does not show the last user's
record or '(end)'
Oh, that's interesting and confusing:
GUARD is X86_64 VMS and in Australia.
BUZZEL is X86_64 and on the same LAN as DUNE.
Both are not showing the last two records of output from DUNE's finger
server.
I thought it might have been a VMS version issue but....
TUPILE is VAX and on the same LAN as DUNE and is displaying even less.
In short, it seems I only get a complete output when I'm calling DUNE
from DUNE.
Weirdness... I'll come back to this later.
I'm late to the party, but when I do a finger to DUNE:: from
my RSTS/E implementation, I get:
SPC11D::$ fing @dune
[DUNE.DECnet]
OpenVMS V7.3 on node DUNE 14-JAN-2026 23:09:20.70 Uptime 31 08:42:04No
users logged in.(end)
<long pause>
: link failed]
?FINGER - Link timeout for node DUNE.
OTOH, when the same client asks VMS DECnet node SPCVXA::,
I get:
SPC11D::$ fing @spcvxa
[SPCVXA.DECnet]
SPC Memorial VAXcluster
SPCVXA VAX 8650, OpenVMS V7.3, Wed, 14-Jan-2026 18:15, 0 Users, 0 Batch
Uptime 10 17:02, since Sun, 4-Jan-2026 01:12, Load: 0.00 0.00 0.00
PID Username Program Term Login CPU Location
TT Type
20E0011E SYSTEM $ OPA0: 01:14 0:11 System Console
VT320
Note that I have some non-compliant* parts in my RSTS/E
and VMS Finger implementations which means you may get some
odd output if you try to Finger those nodes, as well as some
local extensions (leading @ is accepted as well as trailing
::).
* Non-compliant with the modern (2024) informal DECnet Finger
spec. "Historic" clients always sent "FINGER " before the user's
request, apparently so a "catch-all" DECnet object could send
requests to the appropriate protocol handler. I'm in the pro-
cess of fixing this (in RSTS/E Finger first, by not sending the
"FINGER " prefix and silently discarding it on receipt. But this
is behind a bunch of paying work and a 2BSD project.