OpenVAS Change Request #6: Remove support of old XML report format

Status: Voted +2. Implemented with SVN-884. Released with OpenVAS-Client 1.0.4.

Purpose

To reduce code base.

To prevent people from using a unsupported feature.

References

Survey whether anyone needs this format on openvas-devel mailing list.

Rationale

This feature was marked as deprecated already in the old Nessus times.

A successor XML format exists.

The DTD (nbe.dtd) for this format does not exist anyway (or never has been made readily available).

Apart from this, there seem to be no OpenVAS users that use the feature anymore (survey does not result a single answer).

Effects

• It will not be possible anymore to create the old XML format via the OpenVAS-Client.
• People who still might have (automatic) processing chains based on the old format will have to stick to the latest OpenVAS-Client release that allowed to export this format.

Design and Implementation

• Remove nessus/xml_output.c and nessus/xml_output.h from openvas-client.
• Remove handling of old XML format in nessus/cli.c, nessus/Makefile, nessus/nessus.c, nessus/nmake.w32 and nessus/report_save.c.
• Remove text about "old-xml" from doc/OpenVAS-Client.1.
• Remove text abut the old xml from users-manual.lyx and users-manual-de.lyx in module openvas-manual.

History

• 2008-06-01 Jan-Oliver Wagner <jan-oliver.wagner@intevation.de>:
  Updated status to implemented.
• 2008-06-01 Jan-Oliver Wagner <jan-oliver.wagner@intevation.de>:
  Added voting result.
• 2008-03-05 Jan-Oliver Wagner <jan-oliver.wagner@intevation.de>:
  Initial text.