Package: iputils-ping
Version: 3:20101006-1+b1
Severity: minor
Hi,
I have verified this only on wheezy, but I believe it's been the case
for a while and that nothing has changed up to now.
The ping manpage mixes the ping and ping6 options in ways that make it
quite confusing for the user
$ man ping | head -12
PING(8) System Manager's Manual: iputils PING(8)
NAME
ping, ping6 - send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts
SYNOPSIS
ping [-LRUbdfnqrvVaAB] [-c count] [-m mark] [-i interval] [-l preload]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-t ttl] [-w deadline] [-F flowlabel] [-I
interface] [-M hint] [-N nioption] [-Q tos] [-S sndbuf] [-T timestamp
option] [-W timeout] [hop ...] destination
$ ping -h
Usage: ping [-LRUbdfnqrvVaAD] [-c count] [-i interval] [-w deadline]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-t ttl] [-I interface]
[-M pmtudisc-hint] [-m mark] [-S sndbuf]
[-T tstamp-options] [-Q tos] [hop1 ...] destination
$ ping6 -h
Usage: ping6 [-LUdfnqrvVaAD] [-c count] [-i interval] [-w deadline]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-t ttl] [-I interface]
[-M pmtudisc-hint] [-S sndbuf] [-F flowlabel] [-Q tclass]
[[-N nodeinfo-option] ...]
[hop1 ...] destination
Notice, for example, that the -N and -F options are only accepted by
ping6 whereas -T or -R are only accepted by ping
$ ping -N name google.com
ping: invalid option -- 'N'
Usage: ping [-LRUbdfnqrvVaAD] [-c count] [-i interval] [-w deadline]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-t ttl] [-I interface]
[-M pmtudisc-hint] [-m mark] [-S sndbuf]
[-T tstamp-options] [-Q tos] [hop1 ...] destination
$ ping -F name google.com
ping: invalid option -- 'F'
Usage: ping [-LRUbdfnqrvVaAD] [-c count] [-i interval] [-w deadline]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-t ttl] [-I interface]
[-M pmtudisc-hint] [-m mark] [-S sndbuf]
[-T tstamp-options] [-Q tos] [hop1 ...] destination
$ ping6 -T foo google.com
ping6: invalid option -- 'T'
Usage: ping6 [-LUdfnqrvVaAD] [-c count] [-i interval] [-w deadline]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-t ttl] [-I interface]
[-M pmtudisc-hint] [-S sndbuf] [-F flowlabel] [-Q tclass]
[[-N nodeinfo-option] ...]
[hop1 ...] destination
$ ping6 -R www.google.com
ping6: invalid option -- 'R'
Usage: ping6 [-LUdfnqrvVaAD] [-c count] [-i interval] [-w deadline]
[-p pattern] [-s packetsize] [-t ttl] [-I interface]
[-M pmtudisc-hint] [-S sndbuf] [-F flowlabel] [-Q tclass]
[[-N nodeinfo-option] ...]
[hop1 ...] destination
I believe the summary of options in the manpage header should be split
into ping and ping6, so that users are not misled to think that a
certain option is available to the wrong command.
--
Besos,
Marga
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