NIST Net bug list/alpha status

Last updated:
Mon Oct 16 16:37:12 EDT 2000

What's the status of the alpha release? 2.0.5 (fifth alpha revision) has been released. This one now works for both 2.0.xx kernels (2.0.27 - 2.0.38) and 2.2.xx kernels (2.2.5 - 2.2.17). This one mostly addresses improving the kernel patches, fixing 2.2.xx clock bugs in particular. Note: if you got this one from the web site before Mon Oct 16 16:30 EDT 2000, I would suggest getting it again. There were a few flubs in the version first posted on Friday.

2.0a.6 (sixth alpha revision) will overhaul the library code in particular, to improve support for other protocols. It will also take the final steps toward making NIST Net entirely modular (no kernel patches required!) Planned release date is early November.

2.0a.7 (seventh alpha revision) will improve the documentation.

Bug reporting

A temporary mail alias for alpha bug reports only has been set up. Send bug reports on 2.0a only to: nistnet-bugs@antd.nist.gov.

For the bug reports to be useful, keep the following points in mind:

Current bug/feature request list

Here is a not-very-well-prioritized list of the current known bugs/misfeatures/needed improvements for the NIST Net alpha releases.
  1. Port back 2.0 changes into 1.4 release to the extent possible. After this, the two releases will have common base code (with some #ifdef LINUX_VERSION_CODE stuff, of course), but of course different kernel patch files. Again, I'm thinking of dropping the 1.4/2.0 nonsense and calling them all 2.0, since the install scripts will now work on either kernel version.
    Status: Done, incorporated into 2.0a.1. I've also dropped the 1.4/2.0 version nonsense.
  2. I need to update the 1.4alpha ones to work with the 2.0.38 kernel. While I am at it, I should update these patches to be as close to the current 2.0 patches as possible.
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.1.

  3. CoS lines got deleted from library routines! Add them back.
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.2

  4. X interface - need to tab-chain the text input fields.
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.3
  5. X interface - possible memory leak needs investigating. This may be a bogus complaint from dmalloc.
    Status: Done (complaints were mostly bogus), in 2.0a.3
  6. X interface - gets confused when you make duplicate entries, then remove one of the duplicates. Rather than report repeated errors on stat, it should either remove the others, or silently ignore them.
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.3
  7. X interface - need to be able to specify numeric-only entries, so things don't get mixed up converting to names and back. A global button would be easiest to implement, but per-entry buttons would be more useful.
    Status: Done (with global button), in 2.0a.3
  8. Red Hat default font server setup isn't supporting one of the fonts used (16 point Helvetica). Come up with an alternative.
    Status: Done (switched to 14 point), in 2.0a.3
  9. TextField widget doesn't understand reverse video.
    Status: Done (sort of; specified colors used), in 2.0a.3
  10. Conversion bug can blank out drop value display in xnistnet.
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.3
  11. Don't apply ntohs to protocol numbers!
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.3

  12. Still some sort of display/conversion bug in X user interface
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.4

  13. The clock code for 2.2 kernels is ok, but not perfect. This needs some more investigation. With the emulator active, it seems to drift off about 10 seconds per day. (Actually, it is about 1 minijiffy slow per second, which leads me to suspect a systematic error on my part.)
    Status: Done (I think), in 2.0a.5
  14. Old demo addons (linmunge, nistspy) need more updating to work effectively with new setup. In particular, need to fix things up so they work with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS.
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.5
  15. Several reports of demo addons (linmunge, nistspy) not working with some versions of Red Hat. This is the MODVERSIONS problem
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.5
  16. Port to Linux running on Alphas.
    Status: "Light snacking" code done, in 2.0a.5
  17. Port to Linux running on Suns.
    Status: "Light snacking" code done, in 2.0a.5
  18. The infamous overlapping fast_timer bug seems to have resurfaced. Symptoms: under extraordinarily high loads, the patient dies! (Continuing the medical analogies.)
    Status: Done, in 2.0a.5

  19. Problems with SMP systems in 2.2.xx - the SMP code uses the 8254 to calibrate the APIC clock, so we can't mess with the timer until after the system boots. Also, there's a system hang the "unexpected" timer interrupts can generate. This may be fixable by making them XT PICS(???)
    Status: A half fix is in 2.0a.5. Will revisit in 2.0.6.
  20. Is there a statistical bug in 2.0??? New round of tests came out sort of OK, but still with sigma elevated and rho depressed. (Sounds like a medical show.)
    Status: Looks ok now? Will revisit for 2.0.6
  21. Stats are definitely off for very small values or very large variances. This can be fixed by improving the table and making the conversion routines a little better behaved.
    Status: Planned for 2.0a.6
  22. Missing these mask combinations: host:.prot to any and vice versa. Might be nice to add.
    Status: Will be in 2.0a.6
  23. Lib doesn't parse igmp groups properly.
    Status: Planned for 2.0a.6
  24. Don't use getservbyport() on protocols other than tcp and udp.
    Status: Planned for 2.0a.6
  25. Other protocols need fleshing out and testing. In particular, ipip tunnels need to handle tunneled IP addresses.
    Status: Planned for 2.0a.6
  26. Thorough cleanout of redundant and unused code. Reduce size and improve performance. In particular, table lookup can be speeded up considerably with just a little work.
    Status: Planned for 2.0a.6
  27. New widget updates are a little slow. Try to speed up.
    Status: Planned for 2.0a.6
  28. 2.0 version should use more "principled" packet interception. In general, try to make the whole thing modular, so no kernel patching is required.
    Status: Half done in 2.0a.5, rest planned for 2.0a.6

  29. Documentation needs updating.
    Status: Planned for 2.0a.7

  30. Add a web interface to the emulation tool. Even a simple cgi script that calls cnistnet would be better than nothing. I had a primitive version of this long ago, but it hasn't been kept up-to-date. More useful, of course, would be something like a Java applet that could do continuous status updates.
    Status: On hold

Comments? Questions? Let us know at nistnet-dev@antd.nist.gov.
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