echoping appears to compile and run at least on Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, MacOS X, Solaris (gcc only), HP/UX and Tru64. On Mac OS X, you'll probably need a version >= 10.2. Some versions of RedHat 7 ship with a completely broken C compiler (echoping displays negative times). You do not have to be root to install it. Just type "./configure", then "make", "make test" if you wish (some tests depend on local servers and/or Internet access, interpret with care) and then (as root if necessary), "make install". (The Makefile has the GNU syntax so, on BSD machines, you will need GNU make. Typically, you install the port "gmake" and run "gmake" instead of "make". Otherwise, you will have an error message like "Need an operator") There is also a 'make fulltest' if you want to test more things (which may not be available on your platform). "configure" has some options: --disable-http (suppress the HTTP support) --disable-smtp (suppress the SMTP support) --enable-icp (add the ICP support, to monitor Web proxies like Squid) --without-libidn (suppress the IDN support, the handling of Unicode - multi-script - domain names, see RFC 3490) --with-libidn[=/where/is/libidn] (tell the system where to find the GNU libidn library ) --with-gnutls[=/where/is/gnutls] (add the SSL/TLS support, you will need the GNU TLS library ) --with-ssl[=/where/is/ssl] (add the SSL/TLS support, you will need the OpenSSL library ) --disable-ttcp (suppress the T/TCP support which is enabled only if your system supports it - FreeBSD does. See ) There is no option to disable IPv6. echoping now uses the new (RFC 3493, but first specified in RFC 2133 in september 1997) socket interface, with getnameinfo/getaddrinfo. If your system does not support it (Mac OS X <= 10.1), you have no other choices than using echoping 4. Standard "autoconf/configure" options are supported such as --prefix to set the installation root directory. If 'echoping -h' replies with a "404" error while the file really exists, check first that you use the FQDN of the server on the command line (this is a consequence of the HTTP 1.1 protocol, not a bug in echoping and this will show only if the HTTP server uses "virtual hosting"). To report a bug, email Stephane Bortzmeyer (if you have an account at SourceForge, you can use their bug reporting tool, too). If the problem is at the "./configure" step, do not forget to send configure's output *and* the config.log. If echoping segfaults, please send me debugging info. To do so: make clean make debug gdb ./echoping run the-options-that-exhibits-the-problem where list print the-variables-displayed $Id$