how to start reading the nmap source code ?

["--- ---" <ithilgore.ryu.l () gmail com>]

 Hey there,
 I ve been using nmap for quite a lot of time now and i was interested in
starting doing sth to contribute to it.
 I have written a syn scanner mysef (among other things )and have some good
exp in sockets programming ( and especially raw sockets) . However,  nmap as
of late has become quite a large project with many K locs making it
difficult to study it without some proper guidelines.
I would like to know if u can suggest some efficient way to read the source
code ( starting a bottom up approach maybe -from core to external
functionality). I downloaded the first version of nmap ( the one posted in
phrack ) but unfortunately that code is not as portable and needs many
changes to compile in my platform so that i can play with it.

So what do u have to suggest ?
What files of the source code are the ones who are of most importance ?
In what funcs should one focus on and on which ones he should just see as
black-boxes ?
And how can one start meddling with the code without breaking the whole
thing apart ? (although than too can be enlightening sometimes )

ithilgore

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