update-inetd(8)

✨ update-inetd(8) ✨ — the dpkg suite's lil' inetd.conf glow-up tool 🎀

okay so bestie, pull up a chair because this one is lowkey iconic 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

update-inetd — create, remove, enable or disable entry /etc/inetd.conf

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

update-inetd [option...] command argument

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so update-inetd is that girl fr — she can add, remove, enable or disable entries in the /etc/inetd.conf file (and yes, you can point her at a different file if you want, just use the --file option 🫶). once /etc/inetd.conf has been changed, she sends a SIGHUP signal to the inetd process so that inetd will actually pick up the new /etc/inetd.conf file. like, she makes sure it lands. no cap.

if you're doing Perl scripts, there's also the Perl module DebianNet for you — peep DebianNet(3pm) for further information ✨

update-inetd can also add entries that are commented out by default. those get treated like normal entries, which — bestie, hear me — means that if you already have an entry that's commented out, you cannot add an entry for the same service without removing the old one first. it's giving "one at a time, queen" 💀

in accordance with the Debian Policy, update-inetd treats entries that are prefixed with a single '#' character as commented out by a user. what that means in practice: for a user to disable a service using update-inetd, and for the service to stay disabled after upgrades, the user must run update-inetd with --comment-chars '#' (see the relevant option below 👇). conversely, package maintainer scripts should not override the default comment chars — and when they do, they must not use '#'.

also note: --enable and --remove will not be acted upon for service entries that are commented out using anything but the value specified with --comment-chars (or the default value if none is specified). read that again, it matters 🙈

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👑 COMMANDS 👑

• --add entry-line — add an entry to /etc/inetd.conf. a description of the entry-line format lives in the inetd(8) or inetd.conf(5) manual pages (or honestly, just look at /etc/inetd.conf). to stop the shell from messing with your entry-line definition, you have to quote the entry-line using single or double quotes. you can use tabs (a tab character or \t) and spaces to separate the fields of the entry-line. if you want to drop the entry-line into a specific section of the /etc/inetd.conf file, please use the --group option 💖
  • if you're trying to add an entry that already exists, update-inetd will not add the entry. for uncommented entries it will do nothing, and for entries that are commented out by the comment-chars (see option --comment-chars) it will enable the existing entry. if you want to completely replace an entry, just remove the entry with the --remove command first. periodt.
• --remove entry-regex — remove an entry-line matching entry-regex (e.g. "telnet") from /etc/inetd.conf. the entry-regex will be anchored at the beginning of the entry line. 📌
• --enable service[,...] — enable service (e.g. "ftp") in /etc/inetd.conf. if you want to enable more than one service you can use a comma-separated list of services (no whitespace characters allowed, bestie, none 🚫).
• --disable service[,...] — disable service (e.g. "ftp") in /etc/inetd.conf. if you want to disable more than one service you can use a comma-separated list of services (no whitespace characters allowed 🚫).

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• --group groupname — specify that the new entry should be placed in group groupname (e.g. "MAIL"). if the group does not exist, the entry will be placed at the end of the file. the default group is "OTHER".
  • this option is only relevant with the --add command 👀
• --pattern pattern — this option can be used to select a service. you only need this option if you have two (or more) services of the same name.
  • this option is not relevant with the --add command.
• --comment-chars characters — update-inetd uses "#<off># " as the default comment characters. you can use this option to specify different comment characters. this is only necessary if you have to deal with two (or more) services of the same name. if you do use this option, it is your responsibility to eventually remove the commented out entry. (yes, yours. the ball is in your court 🏀)
• --multi — if you want to disable/remove more than one entry at a time you should use this option. if you try to remove more than one entry at a time without using this option, the program will show a warning and prompt the user for an explicit confirmation. it's giving "are you sure sure" 😭
• --file filename — use filename instead of /etc/inetd.conf.
• --verbose — explain what is being done. (she'll narrate. we love a narrator 🎀)
• --debug — enables debugging mode. 🐛
• --help — print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.
• --version — print version information on standard output and exit successfully.

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

you have installed ssh (secure encrypting remote shell) and wish to disable its unencrypted cousins:

update-inetd --comment-chars '#' --disable login,shell,exec,telnet

using a single '#' character as a comment-char prevents update-inetd from re-enabling the services on package upgrades. (slay, they stay gone 💅)

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you think the clock on your computer is often inaccurate and wish to make sure other computers cannot read it:

update-inetd --comment-chars '#' --disable time,daytime

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you get the clock fixed:

update-inetd --enable time,daytime

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you hear a rumor that inetd is easily crashed via a SYN attack against the time and daytime services, and you want to turn off only their TCP versions while leaving the analogous UDP services enabled:

update-inetd --comment-chars '#' --pattern tcp --disable time,daytime

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you just finished writing a POP3 server and want to install the /etc/inetd.conf entry from the Makefile:

update-inetd --group MAIL --add \
  'pop-3\t\tstream\ttcp\tnowait\troot\t/usr/sbin/tcpd\t/usr/sbin/in.pop3d'

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• /etc/inetd.conf
• /run/inetd.pid

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

• inetd(8)
• DebianNet(3pm)

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okay that's the whole page bestie, you ate 💖 and just so you know who to thank — this is update-inetd version 4.54build1, dated 2026-02-02, part of the dpkg suite. go forth and configure your services, main character 👑✨🌸