What's TFTP and why is my desktop the server_arg?

[michaelsanford]

What's this for, and why is my desktop folder the main server argument. I'm not root, and I've never changed this file before.

service tftp
{
        disable         = yes
        socket_type     = dgram
        wait            = yes
        user            = nobody
        server          = /usr/libexec/tftpd
        server_args     = /Users/michaelsanford/Desktop
        groups          = yes
        flags           = REUSE
}

 

[scruffy]

I can answer a little bit of that - tftp is the "trivial file transfer protocol".

It's really very trivial indeed - no authentication, no correctness checking, no user interaction, it even sends files by udp in this case(socket_type = dgram), so no reliability guarantee.

The only use I've seen for it is things like updating the ROM for gadgets like ethernet hubs and DSL modems. So what it would be doing running as the unprivileged user, with your desktop as an argument, I don't know. (I'd guess it's probably not actually running, since it says "disable = yes").

Incidentally, when you say you aren't root - does that mean michaelsanford isn't an admin user, or just that you don't run as root?

 

[michaelsanford]

Ok, what I was wondering is why my user was the server arg by default. I am an admin, but I'm not 'root', and the only user I could imagine who would have part of their ~/ as an argument for a superserver child would be root...

And no, it doesn't appear to be running, I was just curius about its configuration. Maybe I'll check the AKB next and post back if I find anything. Thanks!