Enjoy NETPIPES 4 by Robert Forsman thoth@purplefrog.com primary ftp site: ftp://ftp.purplefrog.com/pub/netpipes/ HTML docs: http://web.purplefrog.com/~thoth/netpipes/netpipes.html ssl-auth archive site: http://www.cryptography.org/ , then look in the network/ subdirectory ---- WHY NOW? (10/28/1998) I've been sitting on some new features and general fixes for too long. It would be 4.1.2, but I added the --netslave* flags and a couple of new criteria for ssl-auth. Have a slice of 4.2 pie! yummy! It seems to work for me, but I'm sure it has bugs ("Hey, Bob, beautiful car, but WHERE'S THE STEERING WHEEL?!"). ``Break it and send me the pieces.'' -attribution lost ---- BUILDING Check the Makefile. You will want to change where it installs stuff. Some systems require extra libraries and each one requires slightly different compile flags. Type "make". Witness the miracle of compilation. If you have the US/Canada version, the SSLeay-0.8.1 library and wish to build ssl-auth, then instead type "make all ssl-auth". To install the binaries and manual pages, "make INSTROOT=/usr/local install". Change INSTROOT to taste (it defaults to /depot/collections0/netpipes-x.x). ---- CHANGES 4.2 added the -netslave* flags to hose. These flags are introduced to cope with servers who do not gracefully deal with a close of half of the connection. Also new is "support" for GNU Win32. This basically involves removing the UNIX-domain sockets. Unfortunately, I think there are bugs in GNU Win32 because the subprocesses are unable to perform I/O on the descriptors as reliably as under UNIX. It also includes some porting patches. In ssl-auth, we've added some new criteria: --public-key-match-cert, --cert-md5-digest, and --write-pem-cert. 4.1 switched over to HTML as the primary means of documentation. I build the .man pages from the HTML using a mind-numbingly primitive and barely functional perl script. Faucet & hose now set SO_REUSEADDR by default. They had no such capability before. This should cut down on the "address in use" errors. Faucet now supports a backlog parameter to listen(2) like TCP Suite. Encapsulate now supports a "--slave"-like mode. Encapsulate should now support specifying the SCP session id. Hose used to core dump when you forgot to specify the subcommand; no more. 4.0 adds a pair of new utilities. The classic faucet and hose should be very solid, but encapsulate, and timelimit have seen very limited testing, and might not even build out-of-the-box. As always, send me email with your problems. 3.0 changed the way that the subcommand is specified. It is MUCH better than the ancient way. Read the manual pages. --- EMAIL LIST! Join the email list. This way I will have a list of interested folks to whom I can announce each release. Send email to majordomo@purplefrog.com with a message containing either subscribe netpipes or subscribe netpipes-announce The netpipes list is for netpipes-related discussion, trading magic spells, help compiling, etc. but not for politics or jokes. The netpipes-announce list is strictly for me to announce new releases and patches and includes everyone on the netpipes list (so don't subscribe to both). --- BABBLINGS OF A MAN DRIVEN INSANE BY HIS INSIGHT INTO THE WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSE (or, GUY WHO READ TOO MUCH H.P.LOVECRAFT) Someone suggested using setsid(2) to disassociate myself from the terminal. Sounds great. I hope everyone has it. Also, I need portable ways to clean up child processes. Maybe I'll just read the perl source one day or buy the Stevens Advanced UNIX Programming book. This program has, in the past, been compiled and tested on a DEC 5100, an RS6k, an HP9k, an SGI, SCO v5.0.2, a Solaris box, SunOS 4.1.3, DG/UX 4.11 MU04, and sees almost daily usage under Linux 2.0.x. If you compile this program on an architecture/OS not mentioned above, drop me a line. If you have problems compiling on any architecture, I want to hear about it (and I'll try to help you fix the problem and make sure that the next version compiles out of the box). Normally, I say all software sucks, but I can now proudly say that NETPIPES RULES! If you disagree, tell me why and I'll see if I can fix it. --- SSL-AUTH Since SSL-AUTH uses cryptography libraries, I can't distribute it with the main NetPipes package. However, I finally found a site that can distribute it for me. If you are in the U.S. or Canada and are a citizen of those countries, you can download the full version of NetPipes from http://www.cryptography.org/ . You will have to fill out a simple HTTP form to affirm that you can legally download the software, and then it will give you access. --- THINGS NOT INCLUDED SSLeay-0.8.1 . You need to go get your own version of this. ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL I want to re-distribute multitee by Dan Bernstein. It's rather awkward to use properly, but when you can get the invocation just right, it is a nuclear-powered power-tool! I'm currently too rushed to properly integrate it into the build tree, so you should just go get it yourself. Assuming you can find it :/ --- OTHER PACKAGES LIKE NETPIPES The idea behind NetPipes is like the wheel. Everybody reinvents it. Here are some other packages that do similar stuff, some of which might predate netpipes: ucspi-tcp 0.73 beta Apr 10, 1997 Dan Bernstein http://pobox.com/~djb/ucspi-tcp.html netcat 1.10 Mar 20, 1996 popular with "elite hackers" Avian Research ftp://avian.org/src/hacks/nc110.tgz Weld's NT version: http://l0pht.com/~weld/netcat/ Socket 1.1 September 1992 Jürgen Nickelsen http://www.snafu.de/~jn/socket.html