Re: Deprecating scripts

[Ron <ron () skullsecurity net>]

On 12/13/2009 08:10 PM, Fyodor wrote:
> Hi Ron.  That's a good point.  And it is relevant to the many scripts
> (dozens) we've removed or renamed.  I guess it is a shame that the
> command-lines stop working and the nsedoc disappears.  In many cases
> the script has just been renamed, but it can be a bit hard for users
> to figure it out (though it wouldn't take that much Googling as it
> should be discoverable from the nmap-dev archives).
>
> Perhaps it is a good idea to add a trivial version of the script back
> as you suggest.  Rather than say "This script is deprecated; please
> run ..."  I'd say "This script has been removed, please run ...".  The
> same note should be included in the NSEDoc too.  And I'd suggest
> putting it into just one category, maybe "removed".  I think
> "deprecated" implies that the script still functions but isn't
> recommended--not really the case here.  If we end up with a larger
> number of these, we would probably want to treat them in a special
> way.  For example, we probably wouldn't want to show them in the
> all-scripts lists at http://nmap.org/nsedoc/.  People could still get
> to the by using the old URL for it or by Google searching or through
> the "removed" category list.  And if there are many of them, maybe we
> could someday put them in a subdirectory of scripts in svn rather than
> crowd that directory itself.
>
> Those are my thoughts, but maybe others have different ideas.  If
> nobody suggests something better, feel free to check in your new
> pwdump.nse.
>
> Cheers,
> -F

I hadn't thought about the other scripts after the big rename we did.
Maybe there should be a catch-all file where we simply list the scripts
that have been removed and what they've been replaced with. Then, if a
user-requested script isn't found, NSE checks the file and prints out
the replacement script.

That would involve modifying NSE, whereas having a "removed" category
changes nothing, but I think it'd be a good idea to go back and re-add
all the previously removed scripts as 'removed' scripts. That would
mitigate a lot of broken documentation.

Ron

-- 
Ron Bowes
http://www.skullsecurity.org/
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