Today's article isn't the greatest but it is an article...

[KGIII]

I flipped through my notes and saw 'finger'. So, we got an article about the finger command. It's not nearly as in-depth as it could be, largely because it doesn't need to be and I'm not sure I understand the whole protocol bit enough to explain it to other people.

A Bit About The Finger Command: • Linux Tips

Today's article is not going to be all that difficult to follow as the subject is just helping us learn a bit about the finger command.

linux-tips.us

Amusingly, there's already a comment there where someone's having trouble running it on Ubuntu.

So, if you think you can answer that person's question, feel free to do so (as a comment reply). I've tested on Lubuntu and Mint and finger works just as expected for me. I can't replicate their problem and I have no idea how that'd even happen. I told 'em that smart people exist on this forum. Maybe they'll come here to ask for help.

Feel free to help 'em out in a comment. That'd help me out too, assuming we can actually help them get it sorted.

 

[BigBadBeef]

A simple app... but why did the dev call it "finger"?

I find it either rude or lewd - rude because its not nice to point fingers, especially the middle once, or lewd, because, well, you know...

But then again, the FOSS has never been one to shy away from... shall we say "creative" naming schemes.

 

[KGIII]

The answer to that question is linked on the page.

I'm probably going to lose my network soon. We've got what's left of Hurricane Lee and a pretty solid Nor'easter going on. Those last gusts must have been 60+ mph.

 

[BigBadBeef]

The answer to that question is linked on the page.

I fail to see where. Nevermind.

 

[KGIII]

The link:

Finger (protocol) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The information you wanted:

Earnest named his program after the idea that people would run their fingers down the who list to find what they were looking for.

That'd be the reason for the name.

 

[dos2unix]

Back in the "old days", this was a standard service on most distro's.
Because the of the hacker/security issues, it usually is stopped, disabled, blocked by firewalls, etc..
I notice you can re-enable it on some newer distro's.

My understanding on the name was...

Back in the 60's and 70's if you had a police crime suspect line-up, you would call in a witness to identify
the suspect. The slang for this was calling "fingering". You still see this in some old gangster movies from
that time period.

"The cops fingered Louie!" - yes, it's kind of like pointing the finger at someone.
But then, that's the whole point. I'm pointing you out.

If the user was created with a full first name and last name, that is given as well.

 

[dos2unix]

I find it either rude or lewd - rude because its not nice to point fingers,

Depends on if you're the perpetrator or not

 

[KGIII]

My understanding on the name was...

We have (according to Wikipedia) the author's reasoning for doing so. I can't vouch for it but 'finger' used to be more common in every-day language.

We had a major storm and I'm somehow still here. I am absolutely amazed. (I've not seen any other Mainers today.) It was more spectacular than I had expected. It even got classed as a Nor'easter. I had winds in the 60+ mph range (it was being pulled towards the cyclone).