Re: NASL2 reference manual

Richard Moore <[email protected]> writes:

> I notice that the progress function (scanner_status) is specific to
> scanners and cannot be used by other types of plugin. How about making
> it into a more generic function eg. plugin_status so that plugins
> which can take a long time (such as the web mirroring script) can also
> make use of it.

Well, 1st, a scanner can say "I have done 55% of the port range", most
plugins (like webmirror.nasl) cannot. 2nd, sooner or later, the
"current" plugin name will not be displayed any more, because it is
not "current" and there is no simple way it can be.

> Another related idea is having a heartbeat function which would allow
> a plugin to remind the system that it is alive. This even could be
> used in combination with the timeout stuff perhaps (maybe temporarily
> supressing it).

A well designed plugin should not need it. And a badly designed plugin
with keep saying "I'm working! I'm working!".
What's the difference with a big timeout?