bcp
Dev tools
command line file transfer
SHOW HN2013
How HN took it
4 positive, 16 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 11 critical, out of 34 comments about the project. Thread score -0.19.
Idea: 4 for, 6 againstExecution: 0 for, 5 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Solves a real pain point of finding hosts and IPs on DHCP networks.
From 2 comments
You still need to know the IP. I use nc this exact same way, and it's definitely a hassle -- not a big one, but still -- to have to check ifconfig on one of the machines and then…
entropy_ on HNRad, especially the persistent mode.
dclowd9901 on HN
Good to see people building small things for fun and sharing them.
From 2 comments
There are a million ways to copy files, a lot of them are simpler to use than your example. But that's not the point here. Sometimes you just got to make something because you…
Udo on HNYou still need to know the IP. I use nc this exact same way, and it's definitely a hassle -- not a big one, but still -- to have to check ifconfig on one of the machines and then…
entropy_ on HN
Objections
Netcat or a one-line shell pipe already does this.
From 2 comments
$ nc -l 8888 > file $ cat file | nc host.example.com 8888 I don't think a dedicated utility is required. Edit: Sorry about my comment coming off as a bit hostile, I did not…
midnightsine on HNthose hours of time spent writing the code could have been saved by spending minutes learning the standard way of doing it (and given the ubiquity of nc, its utility would…
niggler on HN
Security flaws: buffer overflow risk and no authentication; only safe on trusted networks.
From 2 comments
This solution is worse than the shell hack, by a lot. From the source: ``` char filename[MAXNAMELEN]; ``` and then a few lines down... ``` filename_size = 0;…
srl on HNIt's neat. I noticed a couple of subtle bugs. 1) The code assumes both the client and the server have the same endian. This can be issue since a uint32 is used for both the…
jbester on HN
Slow compared with scp or tar over nc; no compression.
From 2 comments
SCP is significantly slower than FTP (and performance was an explicit goal of the project)
niggler on HNFor big files it would make a very noticeable difference actually, try scp with different encryption algorithms even and you will see how much it matters. With that said, by…
diginux on HN
Title overstates it: it is one more way to copy, not a quicker one.
From 1 comment
When the title says "Quickly copy a file..." it is reasonable to assume that we're talking about something quicker/easier then at least the most obvious ways to copy. But if…
azov on HN
Requests
Support multiple receivers or a persistent listener mode.
From 2 comments
I like how clever this is, but is there an option to name a bcp (or a planned option), so that I can send files among a big network with lots of people using this command…
dclowd9901 on HNRad, especially the persistent mode.
dclowd9901 on HN
Support piped input and output for use with other tools.
From 1 comment
Try and add support for detecting piped input on the server side: ``` bcp < filename ``` because this would allow for things like ``` cat filename | gzip | bcp ``` with the…
latitude on HN
Fix endianness and int size portability issues.
From 1 comment
It's neat. I noticed a couple of subtle bugs. 1) The code assumes both the client and the server have the same endian. This can be issue since a uint32 is used for both the…
jbester on HN
Use multicast for discovery and reverse the client-server roles.
From 1 comment
Nice. Very Unix-ish in its spirit. The client-server arrangement is backwards though :) Typical arrangement is for the clients to do the "anyone there?" broadcast, for the…
abcd_f on HN
Questions
Why is the server the one connecting to the client?
From 1 comment
Nice. Very Unix-ish in its spirit. The client-server arrangement is backwards though :) Typical arrangement is for the clients to do the "anyone there?" broadcast, for the…
abcd_f on HN
Does it work on OSX, and how does it compare with ncp?
From 2 comments
I couldn't seem to get this compiled on OSX :( Do you (or anyone) know if there's a OSX version available? What I like about ncp is that it first requires an action at the sender…
RookToH7 on HNI made it because with the nc solution, it still required knowing the hostname. I now see though that ncp (http://www.fefe.de/ncp/) would have probably sufficed, though it is a…
diginux on HN
Alternatives named
netcat (nc) with a pipe
From 1 comment
$ nc -l 8888 > file $ cat file | nc host.example.com 8888 I don't think a dedicated utility is required. Edit: Sorry about my comment coming off as a bit hostile, I did not…
midnightsine on HN
ncp
From 1 comment
It reminds me of http://www.fefe.de/ncp/ It's always interesting when people come up with the same thing independently.
froseph on HN
scp
From 1 comment
$ scp file host.example.com:
huhsamovar on HN
udpcast
From 1 comment
Udpcast: http://www.udpcast.linux.lu/ Can do this and other related useful things, including multicast of a file to N machines in parallel. Don't let the UDP bother you: it…
kylecordes on HN
UFTP
From 1 comment
There's also UFTP, it doesn't require the receiver to know the file name. (But it is different from your implementation in a number of ways, most importantly it transfers all…
julian37 on HN
Synergy drag-and-drop
From 1 comment
If that doesn't already exist for synergy (http://synergy-foss.org/), that would be an awesome addition.
diginux on HN