Suggestion: Using script output - Human-readable and machine-parseable

[Daniel Miller <bonsaiviking () gmail com>]

Hey list,

From the Nmap TODO:
> o Nmap should have a better way to handle XML script output.
>  o We currently just stick the current script output text into an XML tag.
May I make a suggestion? If we format script output as YAML 
(http://www.yaml.org/), it will be machine-readable, while preserving 
the human-readable nature. There are a couple of YAML bindings for Lua: 
libyaml (http://yaml.luaforge.net/) and libsyck 
(https://github.com/indeyets/syck/tree/master/ext/lua)

The quickest way to support this straight off would be to modify 
stdnse.format_output to output YAML. The NSE runtime could quote 
non-YAML return values as block-literal scalars, until such time as they 
are rewritten to return more useful formatted output. A downside would 
be that output would take a few more lines than before, though this 
could be overcome by using "flow styles," of which JSON is a proper subset.

Benefits of doing this are:
* extensibility without requiring modifications to Nmap XML schema
* Human-readable nature of YAML means a single output format for human 
and machine consumers
* existing structured-output using stdnse.format_output means very few 
changes for script authors
* YAML bindings available for Lua, Python, Perl, Ruby, C, and many other 
languages.

I was going to submit this idea with a patch, but I realized I don't 
have the first clue as to how to integrate a new Lua library binding 
into the Nmap source. Instead, here's some examples of YAML-formatted 
script output.

Old:
> smb-system-info:
> |  OS Details
> |  |  Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (ServerNT 5.0 build 2195)
> |  |  Installed on 2008-10-10 05:47:19
> |  |  Registered to Ron (organization: Government of Manitoba)
> |  |  Path: 
> %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\Program 
> Files\Graphviz2.20\Bin;
> |  |  Systemroot: C:\WINNT
> |  |_ Page files: C:\pagefile.sys 192 384 (cleared at shutdown => 0)
> |  Hardware
> |  |  CPU 0: Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.80GHz [2800mhz GenuineIntel]
> |  |  |_ Identifier 0: x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 8
> |  |_ Video driver: VMware SVGA II
> |  Browsers
> |  |  Internet Explorer 6.0000
> |_ |_ Firefox 3.0.12 (en-US)
New:
> smb-system-info:
> |  OS Details:
> |   Version: Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (ServerNT 5.0 build 
> 2195)
> |   Installed: 2008-10-10 05:47:19
> |   Registered to:
> |     Name: Ron
> |     Organization: Government of Manitoba
> |   Path: 
> %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\Program 
> Files\Graphviz2.20\Bin;
> |   Systemroot: C:\WINNT
> |   Page files: C:\pagefile.sys 192 384 (cleared at shutdown => 0)
> |  Hardware:
> |   CPU:
> |     - Name: Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.80GHz [2800mhz GenuineIntel]
> |       Identifier: x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 8
> |   Video driver: VMware SVGA II
> |  Browsers:
> |    - Internet Explorer 6.0000
> |_   - Firefox 3.0.12 (en-US)
Old:
> -- | afp-showmount:
> -- |   Yoda's Public Folder
> -- |     Owner: Search,Read,Write
> -- |     Group: Search,Read
> -- |     Everyone: Search,Read
> -- |     User: Search,Read
> -- |   Vader's Public Folder
> -- |     Owner: Search,Read,Write
> -- |     Group: Search,Read
> -- |     Everyone: Search,Read
> -- |     User: Search,Read
> -- |_    Options: IsOwner
New:
> -- | afp-showmount:
> -- |   - name: Yoda's Public Folder
> -- |     Owner: [Search,Read,Write]
> -- |     Group: [Search,Read]
> -- |     Everyone: [Search,Read]
> -- |     User: [Search,Read]
> -- |   - name: Vader's Public Folder
> -- |     Owner: [Search,Read,Write]
> -- |     Group: [Search,Read]
> -- |     Everyone: [Search,Read]
> -- |     User: [Search,Read]
> -- |_    Options: [IsOwner]
Old:
> -- |_auth-spoof: Spoofed reply: 0, 0 : USERID : UNIX : OGJdvM
New:
> -- |_auth-spoof: {Spoofed reply: "0, 0 : USERID : UNIX : OGJdvM"}

Dan

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