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Revision 1.1, Thu Sep 5 08:55:33 1996 UTC (27 years, 8 months ago) by deraadt
Branch: MAIN
CVS Tags: OPENBSD_2_9_BASE, OPENBSD_2_9, OPENBSD_2_8_BASE, OPENBSD_2_8, OPENBSD_2_7_BASE, OPENBSD_2_7, OPENBSD_2_6_BASE, OPENBSD_2_6, OPENBSD_2_5_BASE, OPENBSD_2_5, OPENBSD_2_4_BASE, OPENBSD_2_4, OPENBSD_2_3_BASE, OPENBSD_2_3, OPENBSD_2_2_BASE, OPENBSD_2_2, OPENBSD_2_1_BASE, OPENBSD_2_1, OPENBSD_2_0_BASE, OPENBSD_2_0

nc is *hobbit*'s netcat; let the sysadm have the same tools the crackers
have, so that he may learn what the network is about and protect it better.

Netcat 1.10 is an updated release of Netcat, a simple Unix utility which reads
and writes data across network connections using TCP or UDP protocol.  It is
designed to be a reliable "back-end" tool that can be used directly or easily
driven by other programs and scripts.  At the same time it is a feature-rich
network debugging and exploration tool, since it can create almost any kind of
connection you would need and has several interesting built-in capabilities.

Some of netcat's major features are:

	Outbound or inbound connections, TCP or UDP, to or from any ports
	Full DNS forward/reverse checking, with appropriate warnings
	Ability to use any local source port
	Ability to use any locally-configured network source address
	Built-in port-scanning capabilities, with randomizer
	Built-in loose source-routing capability
	Can read command line arguments from standard input
	Slow-send mode, one line every N seconds
	Hex dump of transmitted and received data
	Optional ability to let another program service established connections
	Optional telnet-options responder

A very short list of potential uses:

	Script backends
	Scanning ports and inventorying services, automated probes
	Backup handlers
	File transfers
	Server testing, simulation, debugging, and hijacking
	Firewall testing
	Proxy gatewaying
	Network performance testing
	Address spoofing tests
	Protecting X servers
	1001 other uses you'll likely come up with

Changes between the 1.00 release and this release:

	Better portability -- updated generic.h and Makefile [thanx folks!]
	Indication of local-end interface address on inbound connections
	That's *Dave* Borman's telnet, not Paul Borman...
	Better indication of DNS errors
	Total byte counts printed if -v -v is used
	A bunch of front-end driver companion programs and scripts
	Better handling of stdin arguments-plus-data
	Hex-dump feature
	Telnet responder
	Program exec works inbound or outbound now

Netcat and the associated package is a product of Avian Research, and is freely
available in full source form with no restrictions save an obligation to give
credit where due.  Get it via anonymous FTP at avian.org:/src/hacks/nc110.tgz
which is a gzipped tar file and not to be confused with its version 1.00
precursor, nc100.tgz.  Other distribution formats can be accomodated upon
request.  Netcat is also mirrored at the following [faster] sites:

	zippy.telcom.arizona.edu:/pub/mirrors/avian.org/hacks/nc110.tgz
	ftp.sterling.com:/mirrors/avian.org/src/hacks/nc110.tgz
	coast.cs.purdue.edu:/pub/tools/unix/netcat/nc110.tgz
	ftp.rge.com:/pub/security/coast/mirrors/avian.org/netcat/nc110.tgz

_H* 960320