Re: /dev/tcp

At Sun, 23 Aug 2026 13:50:30 +0200, "Carlos E.R." <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 2026-08-23 09:37, c186282 wrote:
> > On 8/23/26 00:01, Rich wrote:
> >> vallor <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>> At Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:30:40 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro 
> >>> <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On Thu, 20 Aug 2026 18:15:27 -0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> In comp.os.linux.misc, Lawrence DOliveiro <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:59:41 -0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded wrote:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> This came up in the context of "how to test network on a system
> >>>>>>> with no root and no helpful utilities installed."
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> So a version of bash that supports /dev/tcp is somehow excluded
> >>>>>> from that “no helpful utilities installed” assumption?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The system being tested did not have bash installed. Busybox
> >>>>> provided /bin/sh there.
> >>>>
> >>>> I thought you said you were testing the *network*, not the *system*.
> >>>>
> >>>> You can’t really do that (in general) without access to a proper
> >>>> suite of diagnostic tools.
> >>>>
> >>>> In such a situation, I would try one (or both) of two things:
> >>>>
> >>>> * Reboot the machine with a SystemRescue USB stick
> >>>>    <https://www.system-rescue.org/>. That way, I get unconstrained
> >>>>    access to an entire system custom-designed precisely for running
> >>>>    diagnostics.
> >>>> * Bring in my own machine, which already has my own custom setup on
> >>>>    it, and connect it to the network.
> >>>>
> >>>> Both of these also have the advantage of ruling out screwups in the
> >>>> existing OS installation.
> >>>>
> >>>> And if you’re saying the situation would not allow me to do either of
> >>>> these things, then I would not have accepted the job in the first
> >>>> place.
> >>>
> >>> Have you ever agreed with someone?
> >>
> >> It's kind of the troll ethos, disagreeing brings on more chaos.
> > 
> > 
> >    There are always a few ... being negative/disagreeable
> >    or, worse, All-Superior is Their Main Thing. They feel
> >    they "Gain Power" that way.
> > 
> >    No, I'm not basing that on Freud or Jung - just long
> >    experience.
> > 
> >    I pref the "Let's All Get Along" approach. Everything
> >    goes MUCH smoother and solutions, rather than conflict,
> >    is the usual result.
> > 
> >    ANYway, /dev/tcp does have uses. It's worth exploring.
> >    Maybe YOU can find a use to suit YOUR needs/desires.
> >    I used it for a custom disk-scan/wipe app (had to
> >    use a 'C' module because huge track/cluster/byte numbers
> >    were needed for modern mag drives - the main app was
> >    in Lazarus for the pretty display and buttons).
> > 
> >    Note Lazarus/FPC *says* it supports huge seek numbers
> >    but DOESN'T ... limited to maybe 4gb.
> 
> I wrote a program that writes bytes on big partitions.
> 
> 
> excerpted:
> 
> const
>       sourcefilename = './BigRandom';
>       rawdest: string = '';     // example: '/dev/sda11'
> 
>       shuflecount = 1024;
>       arraysize = 1023;
>       ChunkSz=1048576;
> type
>       tCacho= array [1..ChunkSz] of byte;
> 
> var
>     Fin, Fout: file of tCacho;
>     gotresult: Word;
> 
>     BigData : array [1..shuflecount] of tCacho;
>     OutputIndex : Int64;	// counts MiB written.
> 
> 
> begin
> 
> // writes one MiB
>        {$I-}write(Fout,BigData[RandomIndex]);{$I+}
>        gotresult:= ioresult;
> 
> 
> 
> The purpose of the program is to fast fill a partition or disk with 
> nearly true random data. It is as fast as dd could be.

SHRED(1)                 User Commands                 SHRED(1)

NAME
       shred  -  overwrite  a  file  to  hide its contents, and
       optionally delete it

SYNOPSIS
       shred [OPTION]... FILE...

DESCRIPTION
       Overwrite the specified FILE(s) repeatedly, in order  to
       make  it harder for even very expensive hardware probing
       to recover the data.


-- 
-v System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 Mem: 258G
   OS: Linux 7.2.0 D: Mint 22.3 DE: Xfce 4.18 (X11)
   NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090Ti (24G) (610.57.04)
   "Diplomacy is saying "nice doggy" until you find a rock."