inetd.conf flags field

The Flags Field

This field is intended for datagram sockets only. Nondatagram sockets (such as stream tcp, for example) should specify the value nowait. Datagram-oriented servers come in two types. They are

• Servers that keep reading UDP packets until they timeout and exit (specify wait for these). 
• Servers that read one packet and exit (specify nowait for these).

This information is needed by inetd because the handling of dgram traffic is more complex than it is for stream-oriented protocols. This helps the daemon determine how it should handle future dgram connects while the server for that service is running. This will be explained in detail later in this chapter.