netcat question

overbored · 10-30-2004, 05:14 AM

hi all, i'd like to use netcat in a script to send some text via sockets, but i don't know how to have it close the connection once it has finished sending all the text. usually when i use netcat i just hit ctrl-c, but i won't be there to do that while the script is running.

i was told about a -q option on some irc channels. i downloaded and installed @stake's nc 1.10 via yum (on a fedora box) but that didn't have -q. i then built gnu netcat 0.7.1 from their site and that didn't have -q either. however on my debian and gentoo boxes i have -q (got pkgs via apt and emerge, respectively)...but the system i need to run it on is the fedora box. (i also tried downloading & building the tbz from @stake's/securityfocus' site but that failed miserably.)

i've also looked into netpipes but that seems to be entirely different from what i want (the message sender is actually the server).

thanks in advance for any help.

ToniT · 10-30-2004, 06:33 AM

Code:

nc -l -p 7421

and

Code:

echo 'foo' | nc -q0 othermachine 7421

overbored · 10-30-2004, 12:36 PM

the server is NOT netcat. and i already said there's no -q.

cetialphav · 10-30-2004, 01:12 PM

I don't understand the problem you are having. netcat will close the connection down automatically when it detects EOF on its stdin. So when there is nothing else to send, it shuts down automatically. When using this interactively, you can cause this by sending Ctrl-D.

overbored · 10-30-2004, 01:27 PM

neither GNU netcat nor @stake netcat closes the connection on eof on any box i've tried it on. and in all the time i've used netcat i've never ever seen that.

ToniT · 10-30-2004, 01:43 PM

Oh, sorry I wasn't reading very carefully..

If your netcat doesn't have -q -option, go a head and build a better one.
eg. from the sources of debian netcat.

ToniT · 10-30-2004, 01:45 PM

Oh... you already did that, too.

Why the building from debian sources failed?

overbored · 10-30-2004, 02:03 PM

as i mentioned...

i need to run it on is a fedora box.

ToniT · 10-30-2004, 02:22 PM

Yes you did. (this time I readed the whole message (hopefully)).

What happened when you tried to build debian netcat either
-in debian, but linking it statically
or
-directly in fedora

Quick howto on building from debian sources:

Code:

apt-get install build-essential fakeroot
apt-get source foo
apt-get build-dep foo
cd foo_123.4-5
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot

Quick howto on doing the same on non-debian box:
1. Surf into http://packages.debian.org/foo
2. Download the tar.gz and .diff.gz (maybe the dsc file too, for own reading).
3. Check the list of build-dependencies (none in this case).
4. Unpack and apply the debian patchset

Code:

tar xvfz foo_123.4.orig.tar.gz
zcat foo_123.4-5.diff.gz | patch -p0

5. If the package has patches split in parts (using dpatch), you have to apply them manually too.

Code:

cd foo_123.4.orig
chmod +x debian/patches/*
for i in `cat debian/patches/00list`; do debian/patches/$i.dpatch -patch ; done
touch patch-stamp

6. Compile the bastard.

Code:

chmod +x debian/rules
debian/rules build

cetialphav · 10-30-2004, 02:31 PM

There must be a disconnect here. I don't know why you think the connection is not closed. I'm running the netcat that comes with Fedora Core 2.

Code:

[cetialphav@perl cetialphav]$ echo "hello" | /usr/bin/nc localhost 23
ÿý?ÿý ÿý#ÿý'[cetialphav@perl cetialphav]$

Netcat opens a TCP connection to port 23, sends "hello", sees the EOF on stdin and closes the connection and exits. Is this not what you are asking for?

ToniT · 10-30-2004, 02:35 PM

Also building in debian sources can also be done in one command:

Code:

apt-src install -b foo

And to get the thing build static binaries,
patch the debian/rules before running dpkg-buildpackage.

Here's the patch:

Code:

diff -rub netcat-1.10/debian/rules new/netcat-1.10/debian/rules
--- netcat-1.10/debian/rules    2004-10-30 22:27:35.000000000 +0300
+++ new/netcat-1.10/debian/rules        2004-10-30 22:32:19.000000000 +0300
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 build-stamp: patch-stamp
        dh_testdir
        $(MAKE) linux \
-           CFLAGS='$(DEB_CFLAGS)' STATIC='' \
+           CFLAGS='$(DEB_CFLAGS)' STATIC='-static' \
            DFLAGS='-DLINUX -DTELNET -DGAPING_SECURITY_HOLE'
        touch build-stamp

overbored · 10-30-2004, 02:35 PM

cetialphav, you're wrong because the connection is closed *from the server side.* just because your netcat process ended doesn't mean that the client was the one who closed the connection. if you don't believe me just listen with netcat.

overbored · 10-30-2004, 02:46 PM

tonit, i will try that out once i can access the box again.

cetialphav · 10-30-2004, 04:26 PM

You mean listen with tcpdump (or ethereal). I did. It is not the server that closes the connection. The TCP connection is closed by the client (nc) and not the server. Are you using the -w option to netcat?