rpc(5)

✨ rpc — the RPC program number data base ✨

okay bestie, gather round 💖 this is the rpc man page from section 5 of the File Formats Manual, and it's literally the cutest little lookup table you've ever met.

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🌸 NAME 🌸

rpc — the RPC program number data base 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

/etc/rpc

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one file, one path, zero drama ✨

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so /etc/rpc is this file that holds user readable names — the kind us humans can actually read without crying 😭 — and you can use those names in place of the raw RPC program numbers. like, instead of screaming a number at the computer you just say the name. iconic behaviour, tbh 👑

every line in there gives you this info:

• the name of the server for the RPC program
• the RPC program number
• the aliases

and the way these lil items are separated? any number of blanks and/or tab characters. flexible queen 💅 as many or as few as you want, she doesn't judge.

also!! a # marks the beginning of a comment. everything from that # all the way to the end of the line just... does not get interpreted by the routines that search the file. it's giving "not my business, not my problem" 🙈

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here's an example of the /etc/rpc file from the Sun RPC Source distribution, and no I did not edit a single character of it, periodt:

#
# rpc 88/08/01 4.0 RPCSRC; from 1.12   88/02/07 SMI
#
portmapper      100000  portmap sunrpc
rstatd          100001  rstat rstat_svc rup perfmeter
rusersd         100002  rusers
nfs             100003  nfsprog
ypserv          100004  ypprog
mountd          100005  mount showmount
ypbind          100007
walld           100008  rwall shutdown
yppasswdd       100009  yppasswd
etherstatd      100010  etherstat
rquotad         100011  rquotaprog quota rquota
sprayd          100012  spray
3270_mapper     100013
rje_mapper      100014
selection_svc   100015  selnsvc
database_svc    100016
rexd            100017  rex
alis            100018
sched           100019
llockmgr        100020
nlockmgr        100021
x25.inr         100022
statmon         100023
status          100024
bootparam       100026
ypupdated       100028  ypupdate
keyserv         100029  keyserver
tfsd            100037
nsed            100038
nsemntd         100039

look at all those aliases just vibing in the third column 🥹 nfs, mountd, keyserv... we love a multifunctional queen ✨

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• /etc/rpc — the RPC program number data base 💾

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• getrpcent(3) — go read that one too, bestie, it's the whole reason this file matters 🫶

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and that's the whole page!! mwah 💖 this lil beauty comes to you from Linux man-pages 6.20, dated 2025-05-17 — go off, you absolute icon 👑✨