[9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Lluís Batlle i Rossell]

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I hope this will not be any flame... but I hardly can believe that in a
normal linux/bsd distribution there isn't any tool for redirecting
stdin/stdout to a (new) tcp/udp connection. I think that
file-descriptor-fans will know something like that...

The most similar program I found is 'netcat', but in all the versions
I've seen, it makes SO_LINGER with linger active, with a 0 seconds
timeout, making it unusable for a "close() after input EOT"-behaviour.
Moreover, netcat isn't a default as "ls" or "cat".

Am I missing something? Which is the program I'm expecting to find for
that redirection?

Thanks in advance!

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Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

["Nils O. Selåsdal"]

Lluís Batlle i Rossell wrote:
> I hope this will not be any flame... but I hardly can believe that in a 
> normal linux/bsd distribution there isn't any tool for redirecting 
> stdin/stdout to a (new) tcp/udp connection. I think that 
> file-descriptor-fans will know something like that...
> 
> The most similar program I found is 'netcat', but in all the versions 
> I've seen, it makes SO_LINGER with linger active, with a 0 seconds 
> timeout, making it unusable for a "close() after input EOT"-behaviour. 
> Moreover, netcat isn't a default as "ls" or "cat".
> 
> Am I missing something? Which is the program I'm expecting to find for 
> that redirection?
> 
> Thanks in advance!
#!/bin/rc
port=''
host=''
proto='tcp'
switch($#*) {
case 2
	host=$1 ; port=$2
case 3
	host=$1 ; port=$2 ; proto=$3
case *
	echo 'usage: nc ipaddr port [proto=tcp]'
	exit usage
}

{
	id=`{read <[0=3]}

	echo $proto connection is $id
	echo connect $host^'!'^$port >[1=3]
	cat /net/$proto/$id/data &
	cat >/net/$proto/$id/data
	
}<>[3] /net/$proto/clone

Though I'd like to see some improvements on that :-|

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Paul Hebble]

On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 09:34:56PM +0200, "Nils O. Selåsdal" wrote:
> Lluís Batlle i Rossell wrote:
> >Am I missing something? Which is the program I'm expecting to find for 
> >that redirection?

It's always the one you least expect:

       Bash handles several filenames  specially  when  they  are
       used in redirections, as described in the following table:

              /dev/tcp/host/port
                     If  host  is  a  valid  hostname or Internet
                     address, and port is an integer port  number
                     or service name, bash attempts to open a TCP
                     connection to the corresponding socket.
              /dev/udp/host/port
                     If host is  a  valid  hostname  or  Internet
                     address,  and port is an integer port number
                     or service name, bash attempts to open a UDP
                     connection to the corresponding socket.

(Sorry for the weird quoting, I already deleted Lluís's email, so I had to
 wait for another reply to get on the thread.)

-- 
	Paul

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Russ Cox]

> I hope this will not be any flame... but I hardly can believe that in a
> normal linux/bsd distribution there isn't any tool for redirecting
> stdin/stdout to a (new) tcp/udp connection. I think that
> file-descriptor-fans will know something like that...

we could go on for days listing completions of

    I hardly can believe that in a normal linux bsd distribution _____.

welcome to modern unix.

> The most similar program I found is 'netcat', but in all the versions
> I've seen, it makes SO_LINGER with linger active, with a 0 seconds
> timeout, making it unusable for a "close() after input EOT"-behaviour.
> Moreover, netcat isn't a default as "ls" or "cat".
>
> Am I missing something? Which is the program I'm expecting to find for
> that redirection?

i believe you are expecting to find plan9port's dial(1).

russ

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Lluís Batlle i Rossell]

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Paul Hebble wrote:
>It's always the one you least expect: (bash)
Impressive... In fact I already thought using those gawk sockets :)

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Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Lluís Batlle i Rossell]

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Russ Cox wrote:
> we could go on for days listing completions of
>
>     I hardly can believe that in a normal linux bsd distribution _____.
>
> welcome to modern unix.
I was afraid of that, yes.
> i believe you are expecting to find plan9port's dial(1).
Thanks! Maybe that simple sentence was more useful to me than you
expected. :)

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Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[David Leimbach]

On 4/4/06, Paul Hebble <maceo@imsa.edu> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 09:34:56PM +0200, "Nils O. Selåsdal" wrote:
> > Lluís Batlle i Rossell wrote:
> > >Am I missing something? Which is the program I'm expecting to find for
> > >that redirection?
>
> It's always the one you least expect:
>
>        Bash handles several filenames  specially  when  they  are
>        used in redirections, as described in the following table:
>
>               /dev/tcp/host/port
>                      If  host  is  a  valid  hostname or Internet
>                      address, and port is an integer port  number
>                      or service name, bash attempts to open a TCP
>                      connection to the corresponding socket.
>               /dev/udp/host/port
>                      If host is  a  valid  hostname  or  Internet
>                      address,  and port is an integer port number
>                      or service name, bash attempts to open a UDP
>                      connection to the corresponding socket.
>
> (Sorry for the weird quoting, I already deleted Lluís's email, so I had to
>  wait for another reply to get on the thread.)
>

It's worth noting /dev/tcp is part of bash.  zsh has it's own ways of
doing the same stuff.  netcat is *not* the only way to do this stuff
on unix... it just appears to be the only shell-agnostic way.

Dave

> --
>         Paul
>

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[uriel]

> It's worth noting /dev/tcp is part of bash.  zsh has it's own ways of
> doing the same stuff.  netcat is *not* the only way to do this stuff
> on unix... it just appears to be the only shell-agnostic way.

Gosh, we are so behind the times! someone, fast, add this feature to rc!

uriel

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Lluís Batlle i Rossell]

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Paul Hebble wrote:
>               /dev/tcp/host/port
>                      If  host  is  a  valid  hostname or Internet
>                      address, and port is an integer port  number
>                      or service name, bash attempts to open a TCP
>                      connection to the corresponding socket.
>               /dev/udp/host/port
>                      If host is  a  valid  hostname  or  Internet
>                      address,  and port is an integer port number
>                      or service name, bash attempts to open a UDP
>                      connection to the corresponding socket.
And any other proposal for a listen? I think 'gawk' won't work fine as a
listener, specially for binary files (I'd like not to uuencode/uudecode
the transmission, although it went through my head).
Thanks!

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Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Bruce Ellis]

bless bash.  that's a disgusting hack.

brucee

On 4/5/06, Lluís Batlle i Rossell <viriketo@gmail.com> wrote:
> Paul Hebble wrote:
> >               /dev/tcp/host/port
> >                      If  host  is  a  valid  hostname or Internet
> >                      address, and port is an integer port  number
> >                      or service name, bash attempts to open a TCP
> >                      connection to the corresponding socket.
> >               /dev/udp/host/port
> >                      If host is  a  valid  hostname  or  Internet
> >                      address,  and port is an integer port number
> >                      or service name, bash attempts to open a UDP
> >                      connection to the corresponding socket.
> And any other proposal for a listen? I think 'gawk' won't work fine as a
> listener, specially for binary files (I'd like not to uuencode/uudecode
> the transmission, although it went through my head).
> Thanks!
>
>
>

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Harri Haataja]

On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 09:11:38PM +0200, Lluís Batlle i Rossell wrote:
> I hope this will not be any flame... but I hardly can believe that in
> a normal linux/bsd distribution there isn't any tool for redirecting
> stdin/stdout to a (new) tcp/udp connection. I think that
> file-descriptor-fans will know something like that...

Not sure if it's any different than netcat for you, but there's socat.

Description: multipurpose relay for bidirectional data transfer
 Socat (for SOcket CAT) establishes two bidirectional byte streams
 and transfers data between them. Data channels may be files, pipes,
 devices (terminal or modem, etc.), or sockets (Unix, IPv4, IPv6, raw,
 UDP, TCP, SSL). It provides forking, logging and tracing, different
 modes for interprocess communication and many more options.
 .
 It can be used, for example, as a TCP relay (one-shot or daemon),
 as an external socksifier, as a shell interface to Unix sockets,
 as an IPv6 relay, as a netcat and rinetd replacement, to redirect
 TCP-oriented programs to a serial line, or to establish a relatively
 secure environment (su and chroot) for running client or server shell
 scripts inside network connections.

Upstream would appear to be http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/

-- 
My kettle just sits there steaming, and won't tell me anything.
Much like my first wife.
		-- Paul Tomblin

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Taj Khattra]

> file-descriptor-fans will know something like that...

ipsvd?  http://smarden.sunsite.dk/ipsvd/

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[geoff]

I have a little unix program called listen.c, I think written by
Michael Baldwin.  If he wrote it and it's okay with him, I'm willing
to distribute it.  It's much like Plan 9's listen1.

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[matt]

I use tcpserver as a listener

accepts connections and execs itself with stdin/stdout on the port

http://cr.yp.to/ucspi-tcp.html


tcpclient is a client but uses fd 6 &7 as stdin/stdout

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Anthony Sorace]

On 4/4/06, Paul Hebble <maceo@imsa.edu> wrote:
> It's always the one you least expect:

*least* expect? at this point, i pretty much expect *everything* to be in bash.

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Ronald G Minnich]

Anthony Sorace wrote:
> On 4/4/06, Paul Hebble <maceo@imsa.edu> wrote:
>
>>It's always the one you least expect:
>
>
> *least* expect? at this point, i pretty much expect *everything* to be in bash.

sure. if you type this:
make and then this:
make <tab>
bash will print the list of possible targets for makefile.

You gotta love it.

only on recent bash -- I saw it on gentoo.

ron

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[David Leimbach]

Yep... layering violations abound.

zsh is a lot cleaner about it, doesn't pretend to be part of the
filesystem.  But then again, netcat already did most of this job so
*shrug*.

Dave

On 4/4/06, Bruce Ellis <bruce.ellis@gmail.com> wrote:
> bless bash.  that's a disgusting hack.
>
> brucee
>
> On 4/5/06, Lluís Batlle i Rossell <viriketo@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Paul Hebble wrote:
> > >               /dev/tcp/host/port
> > >                      If  host  is  a  valid  hostname or Internet
> > >                      address, and port is an integer port  number
> > >                      or service name, bash attempts to open a TCP
> > >                      connection to the corresponding socket.
> > >               /dev/udp/host/port
> > >                      If host is  a  valid  hostname  or  Internet
> > >                      address,  and port is an integer port number
> > >                      or service name, bash attempts to open a UDP
> > >                      connection to the corresponding socket.
> > And any other proposal for a listen? I think 'gawk' won't work fine as a
> > listener, specially for binary files (I'd like not to uuencode/uudecode
> > the transmission, although it went through my head).
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> >
>

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[David Leimbach]

On 4/4/06, Ronald G Minnich <rminnich@lanl.gov> wrote:
> Anthony Sorace wrote:
> > On 4/4/06, Paul Hebble <maceo@imsa.edu> wrote:
> >
> >>It's always the one you least expect:
> >
> >
> > *least* expect? at this point, i pretty much expect *everything* to be in bash.
>
> sure. if you type this:
> make and then this:
> make <tab>
> bash will print the list of possible targets for makefile.
>
> You gotta love it.
>
> only on recent bash -- I saw it on gentoo.
>
> ron
>

PAH that's nothing... zsh can be configured to use ssh-agent to do
completion for "scp" on remote hosts.....

And no, I'm not kidding.

I believe recent bash does this too.

Dave

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[geoff]

> PAH that's nothing...  zsh can be configured to use ssh-agent to do
> completion for "scp" on remote hosts.....

It must take a long time to enumerate all the hosts on the Internet,
no?  Particularly since domain addresses are backward.

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Ronald G Minnich]

David Leimbach wrote:

> PAH that's nothing... zsh can be configured to use ssh-agent to do
> completion for "scp" on remote hosts.....
>
> And no, I'm not kidding.
>
> I believe recent bash does this too.


Thanks for that. I just ate.

btw, for some fun, see the videos at despair.com/spin

ron

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[David Leimbach]

On 4/4/06, geoff@collyer.net <geoff@collyer.net> wrote:
> > PAH that's nothing...  zsh can be configured to use ssh-agent to do
> > completion for "scp" on remote hosts.....
>
> It must take a long time to enumerate all the hosts on the Internet,
> no?  Particularly since domain addresses are backward.
>
>

Example:

scp user@hostname:~/<TAB>

It connects and completes.

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[geoff]

I was making a weak joke.  Once you've typed

	scp user@h

a naive completion algorithm would be:
- enumerate all hosts on the internet;
- eliminate those that don't start with `h';
- display the (massive list) of potential hostnames.

At least if domain names were big-endian (edu.psu.cse), like file
names, once someone had typed

	scp user@com.

completion could avoid searching the net, org, mil, gov, us, ca, etc.
domains.

Re: [9fans] netcat,

[Skip Tavakkolian]

> I was making a weak joke.  Once you've typed
>
> 	scp user@h
>
> a naive completion algorithm would be:
> - enumerate all hosts on the internet;
> - eliminate those that don't start with `h';
> - display the (massive list) of potential hostnames.
>
> At least if domain names were big-endian (edu.psu.cse), like file
> names, once someone had typed
>
> 	scp user@com.
>
> completion could avoid searching the net, org, mil, gov, us, ca, etc.
> domains.

I'm taking bets that this will be implemented sometime over
the next year.

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Bruce Ellis]

i must reiterate.  vomituous (as dhog would say).

brucee

On 4/5/06, Ronald G Minnich <rminnich@lanl.gov> wrote:
> David Leimbach wrote:
>
> > PAH that's nothing... zsh can be configured to use ssh-agent to do
> > completion for "scp" on remote hosts.....
> >
> > And no, I'm not kidding.
> >
> > I believe recent bash does this too.
>
>
> Thanks for that. I just ate.
>
> btw, for some fun, see the videos at despair.com/spin
>
> ron
>

Re: [9fans] netcat,

[geoff]

> I'm taking bets that this will be implemented sometime over the next
> year.

What's `this'?  Big-endian domain names or internet-wide  completion?

Re: [9fans] netcat,

[Bruce Ellis]

there will be someone duped into attempting it ... open doesn't work.

brucee

On 4/5/06, Skip Tavakkolian <9nut@9netics.com> wrote:
> > I was making a weak joke.  Once you've typed
> >
> >       scp user@h
> >
> > a naive completion algorithm would be:
> > - enumerate all hosts on the internet;
> > - eliminate those that don't start with `h';
> > - display the (massive list) of potential hostnames.
> >
> > At least if domain names were big-endian (edu.psu.cse), like file
> > names, once someone had typed
> >
> >       scp user@com.
> >
> > completion could avoid searching the net, org, mil, gov, us, ca, etc.
> > domains.
>
> I'm taking bets that this will be implemented sometime over
> the next year.
>
>

Re: [9fans] netcat,

[Skip Tavakkolian]

>> I'm taking bets that this will be implemented sometime over the next
>> year.
>
> What's `this'?  Big-endian domain names or internet-wide  completion?

internet wide completion.

ok, now i'm taking bets that somebody would implement wget url
completion - if it has not been done already.

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Skip Tavakkolian]

> btw, for some fun, see the videos at despair.com/spin

one of my favorites:

http://www.despair.com/limitations.html

Re: [9fans] netcat,

[Adrian Tritschler]

Skip Tavakkolian wrote:
>>I was making a weak joke.  Once you've typed
>>
>>	scp user@h
>>
>>a naive completion algorithm would be:
>>- enumerate all hosts on the internet;
>>- eliminate those that don't start with `h';
>>- display the (massive list) of potential hostnames.
>>
>>At least if domain names were big-endian (edu.psu.cse), like file
>>names, once someone had typed
>>
>>	scp user@com.
>>
>>completion could avoid searching the net, org, mil, gov, us, ca, etc.
>>domains.
> 
> 
> I'm taking bets that this will be implemented sometime over
> the next year.

Maybe it was implemented last year, but everyone who has tried to use it
is still buffering the output...

---------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian Tritschler                          mailto:ajft@ajft.org
Latitude 38°S, Longitude 145°E, Altitude 50m,      Shoe size 44
---------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Heiko Dudzus]

> I hope this will not be any flame... but I hardly can believe that in a
> normal linux/bsd distribution there isn't any tool for redirecting
> stdin/stdout to a (new) tcp/udp connection. [...]
> The most similar program I found is 'netcat', but in all the versions
> I've seen, it makes SO_LINGER with linger active, with a 0 seconds
> timeout, making it unusable for a "close() after input EOT"-behaviour.
> Moreover, netcat isn't a default as "ls" or "cat".

I prefer 'netpipes' for that reason, (although uglier to call).

http://web.purplefrog.com/~/thoth/netpipes/netpipes.html

Heiko

P.S.: I see p9p builds without problems on NetBSD nowadays, so I'll
give dial a try.

Re: [9fans] netcat,

[Jack Johnson]

On 4/4/06, Skip Tavakkolian <9nut@9netics.com> wrote:
> > I was making a weak joke.  Once you've typed

The better joke would have been that it already works.

With bash, if you 'scp user@host:/et<TAB>' it will autocomplete from
the local filesystem.  A groggy user might take your joke, try it, and
think they're seeing the filesystem at the far end.

I did read a decent interview with Sir Tim recently (though apparently
I didn't bookmark it), where he says he realizes he botched URLs (and
now regrets it) by not starting with the TLD and working down.

-Jack

Re: [9fans] netcat, the only stdin/stdout redirector to tcp/udp conns?

[Aharon Robbins]

Actually, this was done first in the Korn shell. (Surprise, surprise.)

Arnold

In article <775b8d190604041510h368f22aen31067a6e7333c8cc@mail.gmail.com> you write:
>bless bash.  that's a disgusting hack.
>
>brucee
>
>On 4/5/06, Lluםs Batlle i Rossell <viriketo@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Paul Hebble wrote:
>> >               /dev/tcp/host/port
>> >                      If  host  is  a  valid  hostname or Internet
>> >                      address, and port is an integer port  number
>> >                      or service name, bash attempts to open a TCP
>> >                      connection to the corresponding socket.
>> >               /dev/udp/host/port
>> >                      If host is  a  valid  hostname  or  Internet
>> >                      address,  and port is an integer port number
>> >                      or service name, bash attempts to open a UDP
>> >                      connection to the corresponding socket.
>> And any other proposal for a listen? I think 'gawk' won't work fine as a
>> listener, specially for binary files (I'd like not to uuencode/uudecode
>> the transmission, although it went through my head).
>> Thanks!
-- 
Aharon (Arnold) Robbins --- Pioneer Consulting Ltd.	arnold AT skeeve DOT com
P.O. Box 354		Home Phone: +972  8 979-0381	Fax: +1 206 350 8765
Nof Ayalon		Cell Phone: +972 50  729-7545
D.N. Shimshon 99785	ISRAEL

Re: [9fans] netcat,

[David Leimbach]

On 4/5/06, Jack Johnson <knapjack@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/4/06, Skip Tavakkolian <9nut@9netics.com> wrote:
> > > I was making a weak joke.  Once you've typed
>
> The better joke would have been that it already works.
>
> With bash, if you 'scp user@host:/et<TAB>' it will autocomplete from
> the local filesystem.  A groggy user might take your joke, try it, and
> think they're seeing the filesystem at the far end.
>

Bash can and does autocomplete remote filenames too.

See http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/130 (scroll down)

"Also, if you use ssh/scp a lot, bash_completion complete hosts and
remote filenames by default if you use ssh-agent:

scp local_file root@hTAB/remTAB/paTAB
would then expand as :
scp local_file root@host:/remote/path/

you'll need of course a fast and low-latency connection for it to be
useful. Waiting several seconds after typing TAB becomes annoying with
time ;)"



> I did read a decent interview with Sir Tim recently (though apparently
> I didn't bookmark it), where he says he realizes he botched URLs (and
> now regrets it) by not starting with the TLD and working down.
>
> -Jack
>