Bug 361553

Summary:	eselect module for net-analyzer/{gnu-netcat,netcat6,nmap}
Product:	Gentoo Linux	Reporter:	brent <brent.saner>
Component:	New packages	Assignee:	Gentoo Netmon project <netmon>
Status:	RESOLVED WONTFIX
Severity:	enhancement	CC:	brent.saner, zerochaos
Priority:	Normal
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Package list:		Runtime testing required:	---

Description brent 2011-04-01 07:18:00 UTC

I propose we create an eselect module that manages the /usr/bin/nc symlink between the above for whichever of them are installed. (net-analyzer/netcat, i should think, shouldn't need to be part of the module as it blocks the other three from what i recall. someone check me on this?)

currently, there are several netcat iterations available in portage, all of which have their strengths and weaknesses:

net-analyzer/nmap (installs /usr/bin/ncat)
net-analyzer/gnu-netcat (installs /usr/bin/netcat)
net-analyzer/netcat6 (installs /usr/bin/nc6, and currently the /usr/bin/nc symlink points to this)

However, this can affect shell script portability between different systems due to each iteration having several differences (for instance, the -t switch: net-analyzer/gnu-netcat specifies TCP, net-analyzer/nmap specifies telnet negotiations, and net-analyzer/netcat6 specifies idle timeout. i believe the original unix netcat (nc) implementation uses -t for telnet negotiations, as ncat does).

This can lead to a more flexible system, as users can decide which implementation to call nc under.

(Granted, I'm sure users can set an alias in their shell .file, but I am under the impression that implementing this as an eselect module is moreso the Gentoo Way).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
(N/A)
Actual Results:  
(N/A)

Comment 1 Mark Tomich 2012-08-27 14:22:27 UTC

I second this...Presently, I cannot (easily) merge libvirt because it depends upon netcat6...which I've had to mask because I require a different version of netcat.  eselect sure would fit the bill here...

Comment 2 Rick Farina (Zero_Chaos) gentoo-dev

2012-08-27 14:46:56 UTC

In my opinion nc should *ALWAYS* be gnu netcat as that is what scripts should be expecting.  I would be interested in potentially completely removing the symlink though, I'm not thrilled with the way things are now either but I think an eselect would do more harm than good as these are NOT compatible with each other.

Thoughts?

Comment 3 Jeroen Roovers (RETIRED) gentoo-dev

2013-07-30 20:22:47 UTC

This isn't going to work as you intended it, I guess.