Question

How do I switch to netcat-traditional in Ubuntu? Whenever I write netcat -h, it appears that I am running netcat-openbsd instead.

I’m new to Ubuntu, so exact commands would be helpful.

Answer 1

1. enable universe repository (if not enabled)

   sudo add-apt-repository universe
   

2. Install the other netcat using synaptic. (To do this, the universe repository must be enabled.)

   sudo apt-get install netcat-traditional
   

3. type sudo update-alternatives --config nc

4. Select the option /bin/nc.traditional

5. type nc -h

output:

[v1.10-38]
connect to somewhere:   nc [-options] hostname port[s] [ports] ...
listen for inbound: nc -l -p port [-options] [hostname] [port]
options:
    -c shell commands   as `-e'; use /bin/sh to exec [dangerous!!]
    -e filename     program to exec after connect [dangerous!!]
...