jwilberding / bcp

Broadcast Copy

Broadcast Copy

Any easy way to copy files between terminals or computers on a local network.

Note: bcp currently assumes a trusted network, use with caution

Compiling

make or gcc -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -o bcp bcp.c

Installation

$ make install

One line install:

$ bash -c "mkdir /tmp/bcp && cd /tmp/bcp && curl -L# https://github.com/jgallen23/bcp/archive/master.tar.gz | tar zx --strip 1 && make install"

In OSX, you can use @gil's homebrew solution: https://github.com/gil/homebrew-bcp

Usage

To make file availabe for copying:

$ ./bcp filename

To receive the file:

$ ./bcp

Example

Sender

diginux@heisenberg:~/code/bcp/test$ ./bcp awesome.jpg
Listening for request..
Sending file to: 192.168.2.12:10789
Sent 107545
File sent.

Recipient

Jordans-MacBook-Pro:bcp diginux$ ./bcp
Requesting file..
Incoming connection from: 192.168.2.12
Receive: 107545
File received: awesome.jpg

Useful bash commands

bcpdir: to send directories

# zip directory to /tmp and bcp it
bcpdir() {

	curr_time=`date +%s`
	file=/tmp/files_$curr_time.zip

	if [[ -d $1 ]]; then

		# dir	
		cd $1
		zip -r -9 $2 $file .

	elif [[ -f $1 ]]; then

		# single file
		file_dir=`dirname $1`
		file_name=`basename $1`
		cd $file_dir
		zip -r -9 $2 $file $file_name

	else
		echo "$1 is not valid!"
		exit 1	
	fi

	bcp $file
	rm $file
	cd -
}

bcppass: to send files/directories protected with password

# zip file/directory with password to /tmp and bcp it
bcppass() {
	bcpdir $1 -e
}

Alternatives:

• A great (more robust) program that uses polling: http://www.fefe.de/ncp/

• Another great approach, requires knowing name of sent file: https://www.udpcast.linux.lu/cmdlinedoc.html

• Quick file distribution challenge: http://www.advogato.org/article/555.html

bcp's Issues

No license used

As I have noticed there is no license used in the project. Shouldn't it be more appropriate to use one in order to protect the project from any unwanted implications ?
And as a free software supporter I suggest using GNU GPL license

Add persistent mode

Leave up and running so multiple computers can download.

Deal with NATs?

License?

This project does not seem to contain any licensing information. See "GitHub needs to take open source seriously" for more information as to why this is important, even when posting code on Github.

Homebrew Formula

It would be swell if a homebrew formula existed for this simple utility. It's pretty great to use on a network of trusted machines and in labs where many of our users have OSX on their machines.

Major security issue: overwriting any file

If you turn on the server, that immediately gives anyone on the network the ability to make you overwrite any file on the file system (subject to permissions of the current user). You need to either let the receiver be the one who specifies the filename or strip the path from the filename.

Add automated tests to make file

Test different file sizes and filename lengths.

Add piping

Thanks to latitude:

Try and add support for detecting piped input on the server side:
bcp < filename
because this would allow for things like
cat filename | gzip | bcp
with the receiving end doing
bcp | gunzip > filename

Verify with hashes

Fix os/arch dependency issues

Thanks to jbester:

1. The code assumes both the client and the server have the same endian. This can be issue since a uint32 is used for both the synchronization code (BCP_CODE) and the port. This can easily fixed with htonl/ntohl conversions.

2. it assumes both the client and the server define int to be the same size (may or may not be true based on compiler/processor/OS combinations). If you use stdint definitions, this typically won't be an issue

Test with big files

Tried with a big file over wireless and did not seem to work.

Switch to using multicast

Check overwrite of file

If receiving file, check to make sure not overwriting, if it will, ask user first.