ssh(1) documentation for -L and -R

[Bert Wesarg]

Hi,

On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 12:06 AM, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh at mimosa.com> wrote:
> I found that the documentation for -L and -R was hard to understand.
> So I made some changes to try to make it clearer.  I started with Revision
> 1.328 from http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/ssh.1
>
> Comments welcome.

I think the 'remote' in here

> --L port:host:hostport
> +-L localport:remoteaddr:remoteport

and the 'local' in here

> --R port:host:hostport
> +-R remoteport:localaddr:localport

is now totally misleading. It suggest that the host:port has anything
to do with the corresponding side, which is not. Read this again:

  Specifies that the given port on the local (client) host is to be
  forwarded to the given host and port on the remote side.

It states clearly, that the connection is made from the remote side to
host:port. And now it reads:

  Specifies that the given TCP port localport on the local (client)
host is to be
  forwarded to the given remoteaddr and remoteport on the remote side.

But now, why do I need to specify 'remoteaddr', if it makes a
connection to the 'remote side', because 'remoteaddr' and 'remote
side' is equal, isn't it?

One possible improvement, could be to use targethost:targetport for
both, -L and -R.

Using 'localport' in -L and 'remoteport' in -R does sounds like an
improvement to me.

Bert