Shellsock is a winsock emulator(a.k.a sockets spoofer), that
allows you run programs like Netscape and mIRC over a restricted
unix shell account.
How is ShellSock different from TIA or SLiRP?
TIA and other
such software requires you to have a host program functioning at the unix
end. Some service provider specifically ban execution of such programs.
The biggest advantage that ShellSock provides is that it is capable of
emulating the winsock standard with just a basic "lynx" and/or
the "telnet" program.
What about I-COMM and SlipKnot?
Although I-COMM and SlipKnot are capable of functioning with just lynx,
they require the redirection facility which some providers by virtue of their
restricted shells do not provide. Also these are only browsers and do
not support either IRC or mail. ShellSock on the other hand is a complete
winsock emulator and will work with nearly all existing 16-bit IP clients!
If Internet providers don't allow you to run TIA etc why would
they allow Shellsock?
Shellsock requires only three programs to function correctly -
telnet, stty and lynx and does not require any other software to be
present at the server end. Also ShellSock is completely capable of
functioning with either or both "Lynx" and "Telnet". When using
ShellSock you are not loading the unix system with any other external
program (which is what most providers object to). And since throwing
out or disabling "Lynx" or "Telnet" effectively kills a shell
account and due to the fact that ShellSock is highly configurable,
providers would find it difficult to restrict usage of ShellSock.
What version of sockets does Shellsock emulate?
Shellsock emulates the 1.1 standard of winsock. You can't call
Shellsock as a winsock ver 1.1 compliant software as it has to
resort to some very crafty tricks in order to work with a shell
account. (Which is the same reason why ShellSock occasionally has
problems with some IP clients).
Does Shellsock work under Windows95?
Yes it does. But Shellsock is a 16 bit winsock, therefore it will
support only 16 bit IP clients under Windows95.
Is Shellsock commercial, shareware or freeware?
Initially we had decided to release this as shareware. But
realising that ShellSock is what every shell user would need and
use, who are we to put a price on what is virtually a requirement.
So in the best interests of all shell users, we are releasing
Shellsock as FREEWARE. As the saying goes...'Some of the
best things in life are free..' :-).
What type of software won't work with shellsock?
All software that refuse to work over an emulated SLIP connection
will not work with Shellsock. This means that programs like talk
and voice phone are out of the question.
Further more, any
program that requires more than one simultaneous socket connection
will not work! This means that software like WinFTP will not work
at all.
Also some of the software that you execute will have
reduced functionality as in the case of mIRC where you cannot
select the finger option while on chat.
Again, you cannot run any
kind of server software with shellsock. This should be pretty
obvious as the system is simply emulating a socket and is not
connected live to the Net.
Plus any software that requires UDP/raw
sockets will not work with Shellsock. This rules out utilities like
PING. Shellsock currently supports (emulates) only the TCP protocol.
Programs that use Gethostbyname() and Gethostbyaddr() functions to
convert host names to IP numbers and vice versa will not display the
correct information as Shellsock uses a method of false IP number
generation to satisfy such programs.
Any program that relies on the blocking hook functions will not
work correctly with ShellSock.
What programs have been tested working with ShellSock?
Browsers clients:
Netscape ver 1.22, ver 2.0, ver 3.0
Explorer ver 2.0, ver 3.01
WingFlyer ver 2.56d
IRC clients:
mIRC ver 3.2, ver 4.7, ver 5.0
wsIRC ver 1.14g-G
Pirch beta ver 0.87
E-Mail Clients:
Eudora ver 1.5.4, ver 3.0.1
Pegasus Mail ver 2.5
Netscape Mail (comes along with browser ver 3.0)
News Clients:
WinVN News Reader ver 0.99.9
Netscape News (comes along with browser ver 3.0)
Explorer News (comes along with browser ver 3.01)
Trumpet ver 1.0 revision A
Finger Clients:
WsFinger ver 1.5
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