Subject: Re: nmap not working?
To: Steven M. Bellovin <smb@cs.columbia.edu>
From: Thor Lancelot Simon <tls@rek.tjls.com>
List: current-users
Date: 11/14/2007 12:14:14
On Wed, Nov 14, 2007 at 05:08:03PM +0000, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:02:47 -0500
> Thor Lancelot Simon <tls@rek.tjls.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> > 
> > However, one should note that this ioctl appears in no standard and
> > that we provide a much, much less crappy way for callers to get
> > interface addresses.  It is probably much less effort to fix each
> > broken caller as we notice it than to even bother to keep arguing
> > about this.
> > 
> I agree with your analysis.  However, the problems that are popping up
> are largely in pkgsrc applications, and let's face it -- Linux is the
> primary target and test venue for most such applications.  What is
> Linux doing about the problems?

Evidently nothing: the ioctl doesn't even return addresses of certain
types on Linux, rendering it effectively useless except for IPv4-only
applications (curiously, since we don't do much Linux work, I stumbled
over this yesterday at work myself).

-- 
  Thor Lancelot Simon	                                     tls@rek.tjls.com

  "The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to
   be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem."	      - Noam Chomsky