network jack - README
=====================

  Web interface to several internet related networking tools.

  Version 2.0 rc 1 - 24 Novemeber 2002
  ------------------------------------
  http://www.the42.net/jack

    Copyright (C) 2002      PJ Goodwin <pj_at_the42.net>

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
    (at your option) any later version.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
    Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA

  Requirements: 
    Web server able to run perl scripts.
    Perl Modules:
      Net::DNS  (cpan or http://www.net-dns.org/)
      NetAddr::IP (cpan ; http://search.cpan.org/author/LUISMUNOZ/NetAddr-IP-3.14/)
      Net::DNSBL (http://www.the42.net/scripts/Net-DNSBL)
    jwhois (ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/jwhois/)
                
  Summary:
    network jack is intended as an internet troubleshooting / information gathering
    tool providing a web interface to several common command line tools, including ping,
    traceroute, dig, and whois, as well as a subnet mask calculator and a DNS block list
    (aka blackhole) lookups.  
  
  Network Jack:
    The name is of course a play on words.  The concept of the base code is to provide
    an easy way of adding new modules (just plug it in).  I'm sure if I were feeling a
    tad bit more verbose that I could say more, but at the present time I'm not going to. 

    There is currently a version of network jack running at http://www.the42.net/nj.  Feel
    free to check it out.  It's possible that I will end up turning off the demo, but for 
    now it will be open to the public. 

  Modules:
     * Pinger   -  Ping a host on the internet (currently only IPv4)
     * Tracer   -  Traceroute to a host on the internet from the web server (currently only IPv4)
     * Digger   -  Do a DNS Dig of a hostname or IP address (for reverse lookups)
     * Drooler  -  DNS block list lookup (aka RBL query, blackhole lookup)
     * Whoser   -  Whois lookup for domain names and IP addresses / blocks
     * Netter   -  Subnet Mask calculator
     * Linker   -  "Front" page for the tools, provides spot for links

  Download:
    You can get the newest version at http://www.the42.net/jack/.

  Credits:
    Please see the CREDITS file.
   
  Installation:
    Please see the INSTALL file.
  
  ChangeLog:
    Please see the ChangeLog file.
  
  Documentation:
    Fairly non-existent at the moment.
    Installation information is included in the distribution
    as INSTALL and additional documentation may (eventually) be available at

       http://www.the42.net/jack/

  Support:
    You can try sending questions, issues, comments, suggestions, features
    requests, etc. regarding brigit to jack(at)the42.net and I'll attempt
    to address them as time permits. 


Enjoy!
   pj