TIGEXP(8)

💖 TIGEXP 💖

okay bestie so real quick — this is tigexp(8), a section 8 (Administrator Commands) page. the name is literally UNIX Security Checker Explanation Generator. yes that's a mouthful. yes it's iconic. 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

tigexp — the UNIX Security Checker Explanation Generator. it explains stuff. that's the whole job. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

tigexp msgid [msgid[msgid...]]

tigexp [-f|-F] [security_report]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea: tigexp generates explanations of the output that comes out of the Tiger security checking package. it's giving translator, but for security alerts. 😭

there are two forms, and you gotta know which one you're in:

1. In the first form, tigexp generates an explanation for each of the message ids you list. feed it message ids, get explanations back. periodt.
2. In the second form, the security_report you specify gets scanned and explanations get generated for it.

and then the flags change the vibe:

• -f → generates one explanation for each unique message id in the security report. no duplicates, we're efficient. ✨
• -F → outputs the security report with explanations inserted after each entry in the report. so it's the report but annotated. it's giving study guide. 📝

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👑 the five message levels 👑

Tiger produces five different message levels, and the level is literally just the last letter of the message id. no cap, that's the system. here's the breakdown:

• ALERT — a message at this level means Tiger has detected a possible intrusion attempt or a troublesome misconfiguration which can expose the whole system to attacks. this is the "bestie wake up" level. 🚨
• FAIL — these mean a violation of a generic security policy or a possible intrusion. appropriate action should be taken to fix this security issue. like, actually do something about it. 🙏
• WARN — a security issue which should be checked further and might indicate a probable vulnerability or exposure. most Tiger messages appear in this category, so this is the main character of levels honestly. 👑
• INFO — information messages which aren't necessarily a security violation but might be useful for the administrator. ⚠️ heads up though: the tigerrc configuration file, through the Tiger_Show_INFO_Msgs option, determines whether or not Tiger shows these items. and the default behaviour is to not show them. so if you're not seeing them, that's why, bestie. 🙈
• ERROR — these are errors in the execution of Tiger (or any of its scripts). probably a misconfiguration in the program, or a problem in the installation, or a file needed for the test is just... missing. the script that outputs this error should be investigated further. go look at it. 🔍
• CONFIG — messages with this level inform you of stages in the configuration process of Tiger. they're not errors (otherwise ERROR would be used, duh) — they're notices for the user running the program explaining, for example, which configuration might be used. it's giving behind-the-scenes. 🎬

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -f — scan the indicated security report and generate explanations of it. one explanation will be generated for each unique message id in the security report. and if the name of a security report is not given, then the report is read from stdin. 🍓
• -F — output the indicated security report with explanations inserted after each entry in the report. if the name of a security report is not given, then the report is read from stdin. 💜

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• $TIGERHOMEDIR/doc/explain.idx

that's the explanation index, and you want it fresh. see bugs below. 😭

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• tiger(8)

go read that one too, iykyk. 🐯

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💀 BUGS 💀

if the explanation index is out of date, it doesn't recognize it and generates junk. 💀

like it will not tell you "hey this index is stale", it will just confidently hand you nonsense. vibe check your index, bestie.

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okay that's the whole page! this was the Security manual, dated 12 August 2003, and it's TIGEXP(8) — Administrator Commands energy, forever. love that for us. mwah. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶