[rancid] Re: Cisco IOS versus Cisco PIX and term width 80

[john heasley]

Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 10:00:09AM +0000, Jethro R Binks:
> On Fri, 6 Feb 2009, Jason Ellison wrote:
> 
> > I have a problem with Cisco c1841 formating the screen differently.
> > 
> > !VLAN: VLAN Name                             Status    Ports
> > !VLAN: ---- -------------------------------- ---------
> > -------------------------------
> > !VLAN: 1    default                          active    Fa0/0/0, Fa0/0/1, Fa0/0/2
> > !VLAN:                                                 Fa0/0/3
> > 
> > versus
> > 
> > !VLAN: VLAN Name                             Status    Ports
> > !VLAN: ---- -------------------------------- ---------
> > -------------------------------
> > !VLAN: 1    default                          active    Fa0/0/0,
> > Fa0/0/1, Fa0/0/2, Fa0/0/3
> > 
> > adding "term width 80" after "term len 0" in clogin seems to fix this... 
> > but this seems to break the PIX.  Should I create a new class... for the 
> > PIX or maybe do some hostname matching.  Are others having this same 
> > issue?

I presume that you added it incorrectly.

But, this does bring us back to the question of whether this command,
or term width 132 or term width 0, break any of the devices that clogin
supports.

Maybe PIX does not have this command, which is one case, but for the
cases where the device does support the command, such as a catalyst,
does it break or act erradically?  I do not have catalysts to test,
nor PIX or ASA, etc.

I've asked before, has anyone with catalysts or others tried this
change to clogin?

> "term width 80" certainly isn't a valid command for the PIX, however in 
> what way does it "break" it?  All I get if I add that is:
> 
> asa1# term width 0
>            ^
> ERROR: % Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
> 
> which is duly ignored.
> 
> I think it would be useful if rancid had a clue earlier on what sort of 
> device it is going to be talking to, so it could modify its behaviour 
> (particularly in clogin) accordingly.  I have often pondered about 
> expanding the information per device in router.db.  A hint could be placed 
> in there (for example, to distinguish the common case of a traditional IOS 
> box vs. the PIX, which has become more similar over time but is still 
> somewhat different in some respects).
> 
> It may be preferable to do this, rather than write a whole new 
> *rancid/*login for a device which is substantially very similar to an 
> existing one, which helps avoid duplication and divergence.
> 
> Jethro.
> 
> -- 
> .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
> Jethro R Binks
> Computing Officer, IT Services, University Of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
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