[HECnet] Re: DECnet Finger Specification (Possible re-post) and Tops-20 Finger Setup Documentation (New)

On 2026-01-11 23:17, Johnny Billquist wrote: I know the feeling... I changed the RSTS/E finger to no longer send /IAM, which helped. But a subsequent change to remove "FINGER " from the command sent to either a remote host or a local host breaks a great many things, both in RSTS/E Finger (both fingering local users and remote node:: stuff) as well as breaking VMS Finger in the same way you say - getting a bunch of "oops" for qualifiers you didn't specify. This appears to be a DECnet-only thing, as VMS finger does not pre- fix the command lines it sends to TCP/IP hosts with "FINGER ". I'm going to need to do a lot more investigating when I have time to see what's going on. Removing the "FINGER " prefix also causes a complete "Star Trek transporter failure" when trying to route through a VMS smart host: $ finger mim::billquist DEBUG1a: command$ = 'FINGER MIM::BILLQUIST'. DEBUG1b: command$ = 'MIM::BILLQUIST'. [IM via routing host SPCVAX] [SPCVAX.DECnet] DEBUG2: command$ = 'MBILLQUIST@IM'. [IM: rerouting link via SPCRTR] [SPCRTR 2BSD finger doesn't send "finger " either, but when I say "finger terry@server", a tcpdump on server shows that the expected command line end isn't there (got a hex C9 instead): 01:29:18.31 spc11e.glaver.org.1028 > server.glaver.org.finger: P 1:6(5) ack 1 win 4096 4500 002d b258 0000 4006 e834 cc8d 23e4 E..-.X..@..4..#. cc8d 233f 0404 004f 0206 3502 cbef b2dd ..#?...O..5..... 5018 1000 a588 0000 7465 7272 79c9 P.......terry. FreeBSD doesn't send "finger " either, but does correctly terminate the command line with CR/LF: 01:34:19.18 gate.glaver.org.16809 > server.glaver.org.finger: P 1:8(7) ack 1 win 1040 <,,timestamp 1548025856:-2016870400> (DF) 4500 003b 2613 4000 4006 3513 cc8d 233d E..;&.@.@.5...#= cc8d 233f 41a9 004f 2459 8ae5 eefc 8182 ..#?A..O$Y...... 8018 0410 cc3b 0000 0101 080a 5c45 87c9 .....;......\E.. 00bc 1665 7465 7272 790d 0a ...eterry.. So the "must prefix with 'FINGER '" business seems to be a DECnet- only thing. The RSTS/E version must have inherited it from DECUS Finger, which looks like it was doing it long before I took over the maintainership of the DECUS VMS Finger project. The reason why is probably lost to history. Much more investigation is needed, as I assume nobody else wants to modify their DECnet Finger implementation to make my life easier. 8-} How many more Finger implementations that handle DECnet are out there? I know of my VMS Finger and RSTS/E Finger, Johnny's RSX Finger and the TOPS-20 one (ones?) Any others? I'm curious where the "send 'FINGER '" in the command came from. I wonder if it has something to do with VMS and its oddball ideas about generic DECnet objects. Anyway, so long and thanks for all the fish - I'll report back once I have at least a conforming RSTS/E implementation. VMS may take longer.