I double checked whether Tops-20 might be doing something strange by doing finger forwarding through MIM::, viz:

FINGER>mim::"spcvxa::system"
[Fork FINGER opening DCN:MIM-117;DATA:STREAM;USERID:SLOGIN for reading, writing]
[SPCVXA::]

%FINGER-E-OOPS, unrecognized command verb - check validity and spelling

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'FINGERNAME'

[Etc., Etc., Etc.]

So MIM:: does the right forwarding and doesn't reject the USER and ignores the optional DATA specification, as per protocol.  Naturally, I also signed on to MIM:: directly and tried it there, too.  Same result.   Maybe your VMS finger server got into a funny state and needs to be reset?  Let me know.

On the other hand, your RSTS/E finger server seems to work like a champ, yippee!!
FINGER>spc11d::
[Fork FINGER opening DCN:SPC11D-117;DATA:STREAM;USERID:SLOGIN for reading, writing]

SPC Memorial PDP-11/70
SPC11D PDP-11/70, RSTS V10.1-L, Sunday, 10-Jan-1926 19:56, 8 Jobs, 63 Max.
Uptime 6 19:21:45, since Monday, 4-Jan-1926 00:35

05-Sep-24 - Your message could be here! Edit FINGER$:FINGER.MSG to change it.

Job Username       PPN   Progrm Term   Login  CPU  ST Location         TTType  
 1  SYSTEM         1,2   ERRCPY Det          00:00 SR - Detached -             
 2  SYSTEM         1,2   MAILQ  Det          00:01 SR - Detached -             
 3  SYSTEM         1,2   OMS    Det          00:05 SL - Detached -             
 4  SYSTEM         1,2   PBS... Det          00:12 SL - Detached -             
 5  SYSTEM         1,2   EVTLOG Det          00:00 SL - Detached -             
 6  SYSTEM         1,2   MESMAN Det          00:00 SL - Detached -             
 7  TERRY         20,254 DCL    KB0:   01:10 21:38 ^C PiDP-11 Console  VT100   
 8  SYSTEM         1,2   FINSRV Det          00:00 RN - Detached -

On 1/10/26 6:24 PM, Thomas DeBellis wrote:

Hi Terry,

Hey, that is some pretty cool stuff!  Very deluxe!  While my initial attempts didn't lead to thoroughly joyful experience, I at least got some error messages, so that's a start.

The DECnet Finger protocol as defined sets the USER attribute to the local (Tops-20) user so the remote system can log it.  It also sets the optional parameter to STREAM in case the remote system can support that, but otherwise, it is ignored.  Here is what I got with the constructed connection string which should be understandable, given the above

The first attempt is me on a Tops-20 machine (VENTI2::) saying I can do streaming, viz: DCN:SPCVXA-117;USER:SLOGIN;DATA:STREAM, which yielded:
FINGER>spcvxa::
?STREAM: Access not permitted, Device or data error
The next attempt was obviously not to send the STREAM parameter, viz: DCN:SPCVXA-117;USER:SLOGIN, which got:
FINGER>spcvxa::
?Access not permitted, Device or data error
Finally, I tried not setting any attributes at all, viz: DCN:SPCVXA-117, which got:
FINGER>spcvxa::
%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'FINGERNAME'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'IAM'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'INTERACTIVE'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'BATCH'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'SUBPROCESS'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'NETWORK'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'SYSTEM'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'ALL'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'NETHELP'

%FINGER-E-OOPS, error parsing 'HELP'

%FINGER-E-EXLIMIT, Message limit exceeded, aborting.

%FINGER-E-OOPS, unwind currently in progress

%FINGER-E-EXLIMIT, Message limit exceeded, aborting.
The first two attempts appeared to have been rejected out of hand, so those are Tops-20 error messages.  The third attempt appears to have succeeded in connecting, but then produced a bunch of what I see are application level VMS type error messages.

On 1/10/26 5:08 PM, Terri Kennedy wrote:

  SPCVXA::, SPCVXB:: and SPC11D:: should all have working (ish) Finger servers. The first two are VAX/VMS V7.3 systems in a
cluster with DECUS Finger (as maintained by me). SPC11D: is a RSTS/E V10.1 system with a Finger server written from scratch by me.

  If anyone really wants it, I could bring up a PC (SPCPCA::, not a known HECnet node) running MS-DOS Finger using PCSA/
DECnet/DOS, Pathworks, or whatever nom de jour it was using back then). The output is pretty boring when Finger-ing into
it, but it does implement both a full client as well as pass-thru. Locally it just says "You are the only user, of course."
when run. That one was also written from scratch by me.

  Note that the SPCxxx:: Fingers can tack on an undocumented /IAM qualifier which I need to get around to removing. Back
when the world was a kinder, gentler place and Finger might be restricted to within an organization, /IAM told the remote host your username and nodename (nodename is needed because there might be intermediate nodes) in order for the
remote Finger server to tell  you if the user you were Fingering had unread mail from you.

  I'll be removing the generation of /IAM and will ignore any /IAM received.

  I'd like to suggest that unknown qualifiers on the received request be silently ignored and that all implementations include support for the /help qualifier.

  Likewise, support for empty lines ("list all users") and a line with just a username should be supported. Implementations should feel free to generate appropriate errors if they choose to not allow listing all users, not listing a specific user, etc.

  If routing is allowed (host1::host2::user@host3:: type connections, intermediate hosts should pass the received command line through unchanged, even if that command line has options that the local system doesn't understand/implement.

  If you want to receive an essay, do "finger spcvxa::/help"

  Some examples:

Example: SPC11D:: to SPCVXA::

$ finger spcvxa::/all
[SPCVXA.DECnet]

SPC Memorial VAXcluster
SPCVXA VAX 8650, OpenVMS V7.3, Sat, 10-Jan-2026 16:38, 0 Users, 0 Batch
Uptime 6 15:26, since Sun, 4-Jan-2026 01:12, Load: 0.00 0.00 0.00

PID      Username     Program   Term     Login   CPU  Location         TT Type
20E00101 <Swapper>    $         System   00:00   0:00
20E0010E AUDIT$SERVER Audit_Ser System   01:13   0:00
20E00113 DECNET       Netacp    System   01:13   0:01
20E00114 DECNET       Evl       Network  01:13   0:00
20E00130 PHONE$SERVER Finger    Network  16:33   0:00
20E00106 SYSTEM       Csp       System   01:13   0:00
20E00107 SYSTEM       Configure System   01:13   0:00
20E00108 SYSTEM       Lanacp    System   01:13   0:00
20E0010A SYSTEM       Ipcacp    System   01:13   0:00
20E0010B SYSTEM       Errfmt    System   01:13   0:00
20E0010C SYSTEM       Fileserv  System   01:13   0:00
20E0010D SYSTEM       Opcom     System   01:13   0:00
20E0010F SYSTEM       Jbc$Job_C System   01:13   0:00
20E00110 SYSTEM       Qman$Queu System   01:13   0:00
20E00111 SYSTEM       Security_ System   01:13   0:00
20E00112 SYSTEM       Smiserver System   01:13   0:00
20E00115 SYSTEM       Remacp    System   01:13   0:00
20E00116 SYSTEM       Server    System   01:13   0:00
20E00118 SYSTEM       Sshd_Mast System   01:13   0:50
20E00119 SYSTEM       Ntpd      System   01:13   0:00
20E0011A SYSTEM       Dia       Detach   01:14   1:02
20E0011C SYSTEM       Latacp    System   01:14   0:00
20E0011E SYSTEM       $         OPA0:    01:14   0:08 System Console   VT320

$ finger spcvxa::system
[SPCVXA.DECnet]

SPCVXA OpenVMS, Sat, 10-Jan-2026 16:33

PID      Username     Program   Term     Login   CPU  Location         TT Type
20E0011E SYSTEM       $         OPA0:    01:14   0:08 System Console   VT320

 Default directory: SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSMGR]
 Logged in since: Sun, 4-Jan-2026 19:51
 Last non-interactive login: Sun, 4-Jan-2026 19:51
 Mail: (no new mail)
 Plan: (no plan file)

Examples: SPCVXB:: to SPC11D::

SPCVXB::$ f spc11d::
[SPC11D.DECnet]

SPC Memorial PDP-11/70
SPC11D PDP-11/70, RSTS V10.1-L, Sunday, 10-Jan-1926 16:36, 8 Jobs, 63 Max.
Uptime 6 16:01:06, since Monday, 4-Jan-1926 00:35

05-Sep-24 - Your message could be here! Edit FINGER$:FINGER.MSG to change it.

Job Username       PPN   Progrm Term   Login  CPU  ST Location         TTType
 1  SYSTEM         1,2   ERRCPY Det          00:00 SR - Detached -
 2  SYSTEM         1,2   MAILQ  Det          00:01 SR - Detached -
 3  SYSTEM         1,2   OMS    Det          00:05 SL - Detached -
 4  SYSTEM         1,2   PBS... Det          00:12 SL - Detached -
 5  SYSTEM         1,2   EVTLOG Det          00:00 SL - Detached -
 6  SYSTEM         1,2   MESMAN Det          00:00 SL - Detached -
 7  TERRY         20,254 DCL    KB0:   01:10 21:35 ^C PiDP-11 Console  VT100
 8  SYSTEM         1,2   FINSRV Det          00:00 RN - Detached -

SPCVXB::$ f spc11d::terry
[SPC11D.DECnet]

SPC11D RSTS/E, Sunday, 10-Jan-1926 16:36

Job Username       PPN   Progrm Term   Login  CPU  ST Location         TTType
 7  TERRY         20,254 DCL    KB0:   01:10 21:35 ^C PiDP-11 Console  VT100

 Default directory: _SY0:[20,254]
 Logged in since: Monday, 4-Jan-1926 01:11
 Mail: (no new mail)
 Plan:
    Half of "The Bob & Terry Show", 1993-present

    Volunteer at the LSSM (Large Scale Systems Museum), 2016-present

    Volunteer at BERA (the Shore Line Trolley Museum), 2000-present

    Former Senior Network Engineer, Verio NY Metro Region, 1999-2001
    Official Verio Motto: "Too many databases, too few brains"

    Former Operations Manager, SPC Academic Computing, 1976-1999
    Official St. Peter's College Motto: "Nobody told me about this!"

    Personal web page:        Personal email:
    http://www.glaver.org        terry@glaver.org

Example: Getting fancy ("Escaping" from HECnet):

SPCVXB::$ f spc11d::server.glaver.org::
[SPC11D.DECnet]
[SERVER.GLAVER.ORG via routing host SPCVAX]
[SPCVAX.DECnet]
[SERVER.GLAVER.ORG]

Unauthorized Access Strictly Prohibited
SERVER DS10 616 MHz, OpenVMS V8.4-2L1, Sat, 10-Jan-2026 16:46, 1 User, 0 Batch
Uptime 70 00:59, since Sat, 1-Nov-2025 15:46, Load: 0.00 0.01 0.02

PID      Username     Program   Term     Login   CPU  Location         TT Type
0003A703 TERRY        $         NTY17:   19:21   0:03 office.glaver.or VT3xx
00034C64 TERRY        $         NTY14:   00:59   0:16 bedroom.glaver.o VT3xx

  To explain that, SPCVXB opened a finger connecton to SPC11D::, asking about server.glaver.org (the :: has to be tacked on so it isn't treated as a username on SPC11D. SPC11D is a DECnet-only host and it doesn't know about anything named server.glaver.org, so it kicks it to its configured Finger router, SPCVAX:: (a cluster DECnet alias for SPCVXA:: and SPCVXB::). SPCVAX:: speaks both DECnet and TCP/IP, realizes that server. glaver.org is an Internet hostname and not a DECnet node, and opens a TCP/IP Finger connection to server.glaver.org (you can see that the transport isn't DECnet as it didn't append ".DECnet" to the host string). VMS Finger also supports a bunch of obsolete transports, like .BITNET. 
On 2026-01-10 15:30, Thomas DeBellis wrote:

If there are other DECnet finger clients on HECnet than Johnny's or mine, I would be delighted to hear about it.  It's pretty trivial; you open a connection to a remote host on object 117 (decimal) and send either a carriage return, a line feed (which gets you the default full system listing) or a user name followed by one of those two characters.  You then read responses and print them until the connection closes.  That's it.  That's all.

The only DECnet finger servers that are in full time production that I am aware of are running on MIM:: and VENTI2::.  TOMMYT:: runs it on an experimental basis, but requires a monitor upgrade and reconfiguration to do a full installation in order to go into production.  I'll do that later this year, I hope
.