Ubuntu

Is telnetd option -h broke

Asked by Steve Holton

Is telnetd option -h broke?

I'm trying to use the -h option with the in.telnetd server to disable the presentation of hostname on the telnet login line.

From the TELNETD(8) manpage:
     -h Disables the printing of host-specific information before login has been completed.

Starting the server from xinetd with
   server_args = -h
does not seem to suppress the hostname on telnet login attempt;

$ telnet somehost
Trying 86.75.30.9...
Connected to somehost.
Escape character is '^]'.
somehost login:

I disabled the xinetd server and started a debug telnetd session in the foreground:
root@somehost:~# /usr/sbin/in.telnetd -h -D ptydata -debug

but the hostname still appears on the login: prompt:

Additional info:

telnetd version 0.17-36build1
from the netkit-telnet package

Linux somehost 3.2.0-67-generic #101-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 15 17:45:51 UTC 2014 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

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Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

I suggest you report a bug

Revision history for this message
Thomas Krüger (thkrueger) said : 		#2

If
server_args = -h
is setting a environment variable, the format is wrong. It should be:
server_args="-h"

Also note that the name is case sensitive.

Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#3

Maybe you misinterpret the meaning of the -h switch.
As far as I know its purpose is not to remove the hostname from the prompt, put to suppress a banner that may be offered by a telnet server before the login like
"welcome to whatever server
access for authorized personnel only"
(I think that is the contents of /etc/issue.net)

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