ASPD(8)

✨ ASPD(8) — Address Search Protocol Daemon ✨

okay bestie, this is the manual page for aspd, from the User Manual. it's giving "1997 called and it's still slaying" energy. let's get into it 🫶

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🌸 NAME 🌸

aspd — Address Search Protocol Daemon. literally what it says on the tin 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

aspd    [-r repetitions] [-i interface] [hostname]
aspd    -V

in.aspd [-r repetitions] [hostname]
in.aspd -V

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So. Aspd is a daemon — a lil background bestie that just waits. It sits there, chilling on asp's port, waiting for incoming address requests. the patience? iconic.

When aspd detects that it itself is the host being searched for, it sends a reply back to the client, and that reply lets the client retrieve its IP address. like "oh you're looking for me? here's my IP, mwah 💋".

You can also pass an alternate hostname on the command line instead of using whatever value the gethostname(3) function hands back. this is lowkey useful if your hostname gets dynamically changed when the link goes up — the way that happens, ugh.

And here's the cute part: if aspd gets invoked as in.aspd, it works as a server instead. It does its little job and then exits, rather than hanging around waiting for new requests. that's the move when you want inetd(8) to automatically run the server every time a request arrives. main character delegation energy, no cap. ✨

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• -r repetitions — sets the number of times to re-send the reply. default is 5 times. (yes, it says it five times, it wants to be heard 💅)
• -i interface — sets the interface used to get the address to send to the client, for example ppp0. ⚠️ note that this option can't be used if aspd is invoked by inetd. also note that you have to kill aspd if the interface address changes. fr fr, it won't notice on its own 😭
• -V — show version information. short and sweet, periodt.

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🦋 LOGGING 🦋

The peer IP address and the searched hostname get logged through the syslogd(8) system logger daemon, using the daemon facility and the notice level. 🫶

Transmission errors use the warning level — and those only get logged if aspd was compiled with the debug support. no debug support? no tea. 💀

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• /etc/services — used by aspd to find the asp protocol port number. that's the plug 🔌

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💀 BUGS 💀

Maybe.

that's it. that's the whole section. "Maybe." the audacity?? the confidence?? honestly? we stan a mysterious queen.

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🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Stenio Brunetta <stenio@brunettaeperin.it>

Comments and suggestions are welcome. (he said it, not me — go say hi 🫶)

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

asp(1), inetd(8), syslog(3), syslogd(8).

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okay that's the whole page bestie, you're so welcome 💖 this one's from Linux, dated February 1997, and it lives in section ASPD(8) of the User Manual. retro but make it slay. bye ✨🎀