Estimated build time: 1 minute Estimated required disk space: 5 MB
make update: This does the same as a make install with the exception that make update doesn't make backups of files it's replacing. One of the things net-tools replaces is sh-utils's version of /bin/hostname (net-tools's version is far better than sh-utils's version).
Also, if you decide to reinstall this package at some point in the future, a make update won't backup all the files from a previous net-tools installation.
The Net-tools package contains the arp, hostname, ifconfig, netstat, plipconfig rarp, route, and slattach programs.
arp is used to manipulate the kernel's ARP cache, usually to add or delete an entry, or to dump the ARP cache.
hostname, with its symlinks domainname, dnsdomainname, nisdomainname, ypdomainname, and nodename, is used to set or show the system's hostname (or other, depending on the symlink used).
The ifconfig command is the general command used to configure network interfaces.
netstat is a multi-purpose tool used to print the network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships.
plipconfig is used to fine-tune the PLIP device parameters, hopefully making it faster.
Akin to the arp program, the rarp program manipulates the system's RARP table.
route is the general utility which is used to manipulate the IP routing table.
slattach attaches a network interface to a serial line, i.e.. puts a normal terminal line into one of several "network" modes.
Net-tools-1.60 needs the following to be installed:
bash from the bash package
sh from the bash package
ar from the binutils package
as from the binutils package
ld from the binutils package
install from the fileutils package
ln from the fileutils package
rm from the fileutils package
msgfmt from the gettext package
cc from the gcc package
make from the make package
basename from the sh-utils package
echo from the sh-utils package
env from the sh-utils package