Re: ncat 5.10BETA handling of -l -p is not compatible with nc-1.10

[Denys Vlasenko <vda.linux () googlemail com>]

On Sunday 10 January 2010 18:11, Kris Katterjohn wrote:
> On 01/10/2010 09:57 AM, Denys Vlasenko wrote:
> > On Sunday 10 January 2010 09:47, Kris Katterjohn wrote:
> > > > Do you understand why compatibility is important?
> > > Do you understand why convenience is important?  We as authors and users
> > > shouldn't be stuck with command arguments from over a decade ago
> >
> > You answered my question. You do not understand why compatibility
> > is important. Thank God other depelopers do, and, for example,
> > coreutils dd is not going to become "more convenient" and ditch
> > its "stupid and non-standard" if=FILE style parameters.
>
> I didn't realize the traditional nc was ever as ubiquitous as dd.

Whether nc or dd is more widely used utility does not appear to be
relevant to the discussion.

> Out of 
> curiosity, how many Linux distros, BSDs and anything else install *Hobbit*'s
> nc by default over something like OpenBSD nc?

I don't know. Anyway, OpenBSD, GNU and Nmap's implementations are now
*mutually* incompatible, thus claiming that old netcat is dead and buried
does not help one iota - the incompatibility among "modern" netcats
still exists and is a problem for admins who write script using nc.

How about a little respect towards the original author?
Why not to keep stuff compatible relative to his version
at least as a gesture of respect?

> The notion of overall compatibility between netcats was lost long before Ncat
> came along, so it's a little late (and the wrong place) to complain.

In case you think I am on a religious crusade or something,
I am not the only person who complains:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=1763649&group_id=52204&atid=466046

http://n2.nabble.com/Netcat-on-Fedora-is-a-different-Netcat-td2135357.html

--
vda
_______________________________________________
Sent through the nmap-dev mailing list
http://cgi.insecure.org/mailman/listinfo/nmap-dev
Archived at http://seclists.org/nmap-dev/