Why would you want to configure inetd?

[johnblue]

One of the questions sysinstall asks is if you would like to "configure inetd and the services that it provides?"

The default is No, and I was wondering if there is any good reason why you would want to do so.

It seem like an unneeded component ..

[aragon]

Nowadays, it kinda is. Pretty much all service daemons implement their own, superior socket code now.

[anomie]

One reason would be to tcp-wrap (libwrap.so) a service that does not have support already compiled in. Example: base system ftpd.

A more general case would be a daemon that you don't want running / listening all the time. You could have inetd fire it up as needed, when a request comes in. I don't have a practical example for that one.