using cmd.exe as a telnet client

[Jp Calderone]

On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 16:31:40 -0600, Donnal Walter <donnal at donnal.net> wrote:
>Several months ago I tried using the telnet module (on Windows XP) to 
> communicate with a proprietary host on our network. This was 
> unsuccessful due to problems with "option negotiation", and I gave up on 
> the project for a while. I still have need for this, however, so I 
> recently started thinking about alternatives. I suppose I could dig deep 
> enough into option negotiation to use the socket module (with telnet as 
> a guide), but I am hoping to find a way to use fewer synapses.
> 
> Using the Windows C:> prompt (cmd.exe) I can telnet into this host with 
> no problems (the Windows telnet client performs option negotiation just 
> fine). Is there a straightforward way of using os.popen() (or os.fork() 
> or os.exec*() or os.wait*()) to connect to the host from Python via the 
> Windows telnet client?
> 

  cmd.exe is not a command line program.  It's a terminal (emulator).  
You might be able to use the telnet program, though.  Before doing this, 
I'd recommend looking at Twisted's telnet support (both the version in 1.3 
and the version that will be in 2.0), which actually supports option 
negotiation in a reasonable way.

  Jp