GNU Netcat, called Netcat for short, is an open source network
debugging and
exploration utility that can read and write data across network connections,
using the
TCP/IP protocol. The utility is fully compatible with a number of
operating systems including
Linux,
FreeBSD,
NetBSD,
SunOS/Solaris, and
MacOS X.
The GNU Netcat is distributed freely under the
GNU General Public License (GPL).