Tutorial: set up a static finger message

In this tutorial, you will follow alice through the steps she takes to have a static message displayed to users who query finger alice@the-dam.org.

First alice replaces /srv/finger/alice (which is by default a link) with a copy of the default script from the fingerd package:

guix pull  # Make sure you have the latest fingerd version. On the-dam.org, this
           # usually takes from 5 to 20 minutes. Perfect time to go brew
           # yourself some tea.
# Atomically copy the default script to /srv/finger/alice
cp  $(guix build fingerd)/bin/fingerd/default_script /srv/finger/$USER.tmp
mv /srv/finger/$USER.tmp /srv/finger/$USER
chmod u+w /srv/finger/$USER

Now, alice can edit the /srv/finger/alice with her text editor of choice (which happens to be her local emacs, using TRAMP to remotely access the file on the-dam.org, but you do you).

She changes the script to display her basic contact information. The first line will appear on the finger index (what people see when they run finger @the-dam.org), so she takes care to make it able to stand on its own.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "Full name: Alice Caroll   Email: alice@example.com

You can find me in Wonderland."

She saves the script and checks that it works by running:

finger alice@the-dam.org

And she also checks the index:

finger @the-dam.org | grep alice