I just upgraded to xinetd-2.3.4-0.1. It's logging the syslog message "writing 17" several times per hour. This message's meaning is rather obscure; I certainly have no idea what it's supposed to mean. If the syslog message isn't worth making comprehensible, then it shouldn't be logged at all.
Hmm. Weird that you have 2.3.4, since it's not out yet. =) Anyway, this is a debugging message that was accidentally left in the development release. It has now been removed, as of xinetd-2001.12.02.tar.gz
The rpm is called 2.3.4-0.1, to show "not quite 2.3.4 yet" - it's a test rpm in the development tree. Will close the bug when I update it.
2.3.4-0.2 (which is 2001-12-03) has been built.