This is netkit-telnet-0.16. This package updates netkit-telnet-0.14. If you're reading this off a CD, go right away and check the net archives for later versions and security fixes. Contents: telnet Client for telnet protocol telnetd Daemon for telnet protocol Note: These programs do not provide encryption or strong authentication of network connections. As such, their use for remote logins is discouraged. The "ssh" protocol and package can be used instead. Requires: Working compiler, libc, and kernel, and a recent version of ncurses or libtermcap. Security: This release probably does not contain new security fixes. On the other hand, vast amounts of suspicious pointer manipulation in telnetd were cleaned up, so it is quite likely that this version is less dangerous than previous ones. In any event, telnetd is evil legacy code and is not trustworthy - do not run it unless you absolutely need it. netkit-telnet-0.14 contained a fix for a set of remote (and possibly serious) denial of service attacks possible against older versions of the telnet daemon. Do not under any circumstances use telnetd older than NetKit-0.09! DEC Alpha: The currently available Compaq C compiler does not provide a C++ compiler, so it cannot compile telnet. Compiling telnetd it may produce a few warnings, but they should be harmless. Installation: Do "./configure --help" and decide what options you want. The defaults should be suitable for most Linux systems. Then run the configure script. Do "make" to compile. Then (as root) do "make install". Save a backup copy of any mission-critical program in case the new one doesn't work, and so forth. We warned you. *** If you have an old kernel, you may need to apply the enclosed pty-hang patch to it. I don't unfortunately know at the moment which kernel versions need the patch, but current 2.0.x and 2.2.x should be ok without it. The following test will tell you if you need the patch: telnet to localhost, do "cat >/dev/null", and type 256 characters without any newlines. If you need the patch, telnetd will hang completely at this point. If it refuses to accept more input, but does not hang, you do not need the patch. Bugs: Please make sure the header files in /usr/include match the libc version installed in /lib and /usr/lib. If you have weird problems this is the most likely culprit. Also, before reporting a bug, be sure you're working with the latest version. If something doesn't compile for you, fix it and send diffs. If you can't, send the compiler's error output. If it compiles but doesn't work, send as complete a bug report as you can. Patches and fixes are welcome, as long as you describe adequately what they're supposed to fix. Please, one patch per distinct fix. Please do NOT send the whole archive back or reindent the source. Be sure to send all correspondence in e-mail. Postings to netnews will not be seen due to the enormous volume. Please don't report known bugs (see the BUGS file(s)) unless you are including fixes. :-) Mail should be sent to: netbug@ftp.uk.linux.org Note: please see http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~dholland/computers/netkit.html if you are curious why it's been so long since the last NetKit release. (The short version is that I gave things to some other people, who let them kind of slide.) I do not currently plan to continue maintaining NetKit; I am doing this release and perhaps one or two more, and then I intend to give the source tree to Red Hat or some similar organization for long-term maintenance. David A. Holland 12 December 1999