Nmap Development mailing list archives
Re: Ideas for verbose data file path reporting
From: "DePriest, Jason R." <jrdepriest () gmail com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 18:24:37 -0500
On 6/4/07, David Fifield wrote:
I'm working on giving Nmap the ability to tell you where it loaded its data files from. For example, you could use the --datadir option to ask for a different nmap-services, and Nmap would say that nmap-services came from that directory while the other files it used came from /usr/local/share/nmap. I'd like some feedback on my ideas on how best to present the information. While usually all the data files will be loaded from their primary directory, each one is searched for individually in a list of directories, so they could all be in different places. And with the new --servicedb and --versiondb options in the soc07 branch, they could even have different names than they normally do. nmap-services could be loaded from /tmp/my-favorite-services, for example. In all of these examples, nmap-service-probes and nmap-rpc are in the default /usr/local/share/nmap with their default file names, nmap-os-db is in /home/david/.nmap with its default file name, and nmap-services is in /home/david with the file name services-few. The examples are not mutually exclusive. I have labeled them only to make them easier to discuss. Ideas from all three could be combined, etc. Example A: List directories and their data files when the file names have not changed, then list each data file with a changed file name individually. Read from /usr/local/share/nmap: nmap-service-probes nmap-rpc. Read from /home/david/.nmap: nmap-os-db. Read nmap-services as /home/david/services-few. Example B: List every data file individually, giving a description of the file's purpose rather than its default file name. This format has some Read service probes from /usr/local/share/nmap/nmap-service-probes. Read known RPC numbers from /usr/local/share/nmap/nmap-rpc. Read OS fingerprints from /home/david/.nmap/nmap-os-db. Read service port numbers from /home/david/services-few. Example C: Group unchanged file names by directory, then list each changed file name individually. In each case, specify whether the source is a file or a directory. Loaded nmap-service-probes, nmap-rpc from the directory /usr/local/share/nmap. Loaded nmap-os-db from the directory /home/david/.nmap. Loaded nmap-services from the file /home/david/services-few. Note that none of these options mentions data files that were not used. I think it's useful to show which files were opened and which were not. What do you think? David Fifield
I think Example B provides the most useful information in the easiest to understand at a glance format.. Since a person can name a file whatever they want, I could have a file called /home/depriest/happy-fun that contains service information. Seeing 'service port numbers' conveys what it is for better than 'nmap-services' Of course, that would require additional translations for non-English versions. -Jason _______________________________________________ Sent through the nmap-dev mailing list http://cgi.insecure.org/mailman/listinfo/nmap-dev Archived at http://SecLists.Org
Current thread:
- Ideas for verbose data file path reporting David Fifield (Jun 04)
- Re: Ideas for verbose data file path reporting DePriest, Jason R. (Jun 04)
- Re: Ideas for verbose data file path reporting Fyodor (Jun 04)