source: basicnet/netutils/traceroute.xml@ 5cd0959d

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;

  <!ENTITY traceroute-download-http "http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/platform/sun/packages/solaris/freeware/SOURCES/traceroute-&traceroute-version;.tar.gz">
  <!ENTITY traceroute-download-ftp  "ftp://ftp.ee.lbl.gov/traceroute-&traceroute-version;.tar.gz">
  <!ENTITY traceroute-size          "73 KB">
  <!ENTITY traceroute-buildsize     "464 KB">
  <!ENTITY traceroute-time          "0.02 SBU">
]>

<sect1 id="traceroute" xreflabel="Traceroute-&traceroute-version;">
<sect1info>
<othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
<date>$Date$</date>
</sect1info>
<?dbhtml filename="traceroute.html"?>
<title>Traceroute-&traceroute-version;</title>

<sect2>
<title>Introduction to <application>Traceroute</application></title>

<para>The <application>Traceroute</application> package contains a program 
which is used to display the network route that packets take to reach a 
specified host. This is a standard network troubleshooting tool. If you find 
yourself unable to connect to another system, traceroute can help pinpoint 
the problem.</para>

<sect3><title>Package information</title>
<itemizedlist spacing='compact'>
<listitem><para>Download (HTTP): <ulink
url="&traceroute-download-http;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download (FTP): <ulink
url="&traceroute-download-ftp;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download size: &traceroute-size;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated Disk space required:
&traceroute-buildsize;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated build time:
&traceroute-time;</para></listitem></itemizedlist>
</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Installation of <application>Traceroute</application></title>

<para>Install <application>Traceroute</application> by running the following 
commands:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>sed -i -e 's/-o bin/-o root/' Makefile.in &amp;&amp;
./configure --prefix=/usr &amp;&amp;
make &amp;&amp;
make install &amp;&amp;
make install-man</command></userinput></screen>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Command explanations</title>

<para><command>sed 's/-o bin/-o root/' Makefile.in</command>: 
Adjusts the <filename>Makefile</filename> so that the program is installed 
with user root instead of user bin (which doesn't exist on a default
<acronym>LFS</acronym> system).</para>

<para><command>make install</command>: Installs <command>traceroute</command> 
with <acronym>SUID</acronym> set to  root in the <filename>/usr/sbin</filename> 
directory. This makes it possible for all users to execute 
<command>traceroute</command>. For absolute security, turn off the 
<acronym>SUID</acronym> bit in <command>traceroute</command>'s file permissions 
with the command:</para>
<screen><command>chmod 0755 /usr/sbin/traceroute</command></screen>

<para>The risk is that if a security problem such as a buffer overflow was 
ever found in the <application>Traceroute</application> code, a regular user 
on your system could gain root access if the program is
<acronym>SUID</acronym> root. Of course, removing 
the <acronym>SUID</acronym> permission also makes it impossible for users other 
than root to utilize <command>traceroute</command>, so decide what's right for 
your individual situation.</para>

<para>The goal of <acronym>BLFS</acronym> is to be completely 
<acronym>FHS</acronym> compliant, so if you do leave the 
<command>traceroute</command> binary <acronym>SUID</acronym> root, then you 
should move <filename>traceroute</filename> to 
<filename class='directory'>/usr/bin</filename> with the following command:
</para>
<screen><command>mv /usr/sbin/traceroute /usr/bin</command></screen>

<para>This ensures that the binary is in the path for non-root users.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Contents</title>

<para>The <application>Traceroute</application> package contains 
<command>traceroute</command>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Description</title>

<sect3><title>traceroute</title>
<para><command>traceroute</command> does basically what it says: it traces the 
route your packets take from the host you are working on to another host on a 
network, showing all the intermediate hops (gateways) along the way.</para>
</sect3>

</sect2>

</sect1>