DECNET.CONF(5)

📦 version 2.65build2, in ubuntu jammy

💖 DECNET.CONF(5) 💖

okay bestie, listen — this is the manual page for DECNET.CONF(5), but the actual file it's about is /etc/decnet.proxy, the DECnet proxy file. yes the title and the filename don't match, we don't make the rules, we just read them. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

/etc/decnet.proxy — the DECnet proxy file 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

/etc/decnet.proxy is an ASCII file (yes, plain text, we love a simple queen) that holds the mappings of remote DECnet users to local users.

It gets used by fal(8) when no username and password have been explicitly given — so basically fal(8) reads this file to figure out two things:

  • whether a user is even allowed to access files, and
  • whose files they'll end up getting access to.

One entry per line, and every line looks exactly like this:

node::remoteuser localuser

🦋 the fields, explained 🦋

  • node — the name or the number of the remote node. If it's a name, it must show up in decnet.conf(5); otherwise you gotta use a DECnet node address instead. Heads up: this field is a regular expression! So if you want to match one single nodename and only that one, you must put the anchors ^ and $ on either side of the name. no cap.
  • remoteuser — a regular expression that may match one or more remote user names. Same deal as above: matching a single user means you must use the anchors ^ and $ on either side of the name. ✨
  • localuser — the name of a user on the local machine, or a single asterisk (*), and in that case the remote username gets substituted in. iconic behaviour tbh.

💬 comments 💬

Comments start with a hash mark and run all the way to the end of that line. They can be chilling on their own dedicated line, or trailing right behind an entry like a little gossip tag-along. 🫶

🔥 EXAMPLE 🔥

#/etc/decnet.proxy
# proxy configuration for fal.
#
^tramp$::^test$ christine  # Explicitly convert 'test' on tramp to 'christine'
^zaphod$::.*    none     # Disable proxies from zaphod (assuming you don't
                         #   have a user called 'none')
.*::.* decnet            # Like a default DECnet account
.*::.* *                 # Equivalent to VMS *::* * proxy (make this last
                         #   if you use it)

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

fal(8), decnet.conf(5)

💀 real talk though: those last two lines are a whole mood — .*::.* decnet is giving default DECnet account energy, and .*::.* * is literally the VMS *::* * proxy equivalent, so if you're using it, put it last. the manpage said it, not me.

and that's the whole page, bestie — you ate that. 💖

DECnet for Linux — 8 August 2002 — mwah, ily, go configure your proxies responsibly 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from