Recipe 3.6 Adding a New Service (inetd)

3.6.1 Problem

You want to add a new network service, controlled by inetd .

3.6.2 Solution

Add a new line to /etc/inetd.conf of the form:

SERVICE_NAME  SOCKET_TYPE  PROTOCOL  THREADING  USER  /PATH/TO/SERVER  ARGS

Then signal inetd to reread /etc/inetd.conf. [Recipe 3.4]

3.6.3 Discussion

The values on the line are:

Service name. A service listed in /etc/services. If it's not, add an entry by selecting a service name, port number, and protocol. See services(5).
Socket type. Either stream, dgram, raw, rdm, or seqpacket.
Protocol. Typically tcp or udp.
Threading . Use wait for single-threaded, or nowait for multithreaded.
User. The service will run as this user.
Path to server executable.
Server arguments, separated by whitespace. You must begin with the zero^th argument, the server's basename itself. For example, for /usr/sbin/in.telnetd, the zero^th argument would be in.telnetd.

A full example is:

telnet  stream  tcp  nowait  root  /usr/sbin/in.telnetd  in.telnetd

A line in inetd.conf may contain a few other details as well, specifying buffer sizes, a local host address for listening, and so forth. See the manpage.

3.6.4 See Also

inetd(8), inetd.conf(5), services(5).

[ Team LiB ]