Re: How do YOU use Nmap XML?

[magnus () linuxtag org (Nils Magnus)]

Re,

On Tue, Nov 16, 2004 at 08:54:16AM -0500, Okan Demirmen wrote:
> On Mon 2004.11.15 at 22:48 -0800, Fyodor wrote:
> > I am currently working on a chapter for the O'Reilly Nmap book which
> > covers all of the Nmap output formats.  The normal, grepable, and even
> > s|<riPt KidDi3 output formats are relatively straightforward.
> > However, I believe that the XML output is under-utilized because many
> > people fail to recognize the power of the format or don't understand
> > all the tools for processing and transforming XML.

[...]

> I've tried many of the Namp/XML parsing perl modules out there, and
> the only one I liked so far was Nmap::Parser by Anthony G Persaud.
> It's small and simple. However, I still have many other self-written
> modules wrapping around Nmap::Parser.

Although XML may be helpful at times, I have still gives me some
headache. The basic syntax may be specified, but there lots of
unanswered questions. Example: nmap generates the following output:

...
<hosts up="1" down="0" total="1" />
...

This is perfect from a syntax point of view, but why isn't it formatted as

<hosts>
  <up>
    1
  </up>
  <down>
    0
  </down>
</hosts> ?

No XML evangelist was able to help me on this issue so far.

The Perl-Parser is ok, but if you compare the amount of time to get
something useful out of an XML-parser compared to a grep over "-oM",
the XML will currently always lose.

Regards,

Nils Magnus
Program-Chair LinuxTag 2004 Free Conference Program

LinuxTag 2004: Where .com meets .org - magnus () linuxtag org

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