Re: Minor zenmap feature

[David Fifield <david () bamsoftware com>]

On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 03:37:12PM +0530, ambarisha b wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 10:22 PM, ambarisha b <b.ambarisha () gmail com> wrote:
> > I noticed that Open Directory functionality when it tries to load a
> > directory full of scans pops up alerts when it finds unsuitable
> > files.It alerts about non xml files also.I thought it would be cooler,
> > if we put a small check over there to try out only .xml files and
> > alert if those xmls aren't nmap ones.What do you guys think?
>
> While you are at it, please do check this out also.A 2-line patch to
> avoid testing and alerting about non xml files on "Open
> Directory".Now, one need not have the nmap xmls in a separate
> directory to open without error.
>
> Is there an option already to recurse the directory tree searching for
> xml files?It could be useful when I have a huge list of directories,
> each containing a few scans ,perhaps.

When Dražen and I were designing this feature, we made it refuse to open
a directory with non-scan files as a conscious design decision. We were
looking for a way to save a bunch of scans as one unit (the "Save All
Scans to Directory" feature), and instead of inventing a new file
format, we decided to store them all in one directory. If there are
other files in there, we treat it as if there was an error in the
"aggregation file format" and fail. For the same reason, Zenmap will
refuse to "Save All Scans to Directory" if there are files there it
doesn't expect.

But I can see the value of allowing a README or similar file in a
directory that otherwise stores scans. Also in building a directory of
scans outside of Zenmap and then opening them in Zenmap.

What is your use case for this feature? How was the directory created,
how did you fill it with scan files, and what are the non-scan files?

David Fifield
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