NetCheck v2.3.0

Release Notes — NetCheck v2.3.0

Release Date: 2026-07-30
Type: Feature — Refactor, Public IP, Output Filtering & Concurrent Ping

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Overview

v2.3.0 is a focused feature and robustness release built on top of the v2.2.0 Tier 3 diagnostics engine. It introduces concurrent public IP resolution, output filtering for batch TCP checks, a --json shorthand flag, full IP-range concurrency for ping, and a deep module refactor that adds typed result envelopes across every diagnostic module. The formatter layer is rebuilt around a unified type-detection helper, making JSON/CSV/XML output more reliable and consistent in all code paths.

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What's New

1. Public IP Resolution (--public)

netcheck interfaces --public          # Show public IP alongside local interfaces
netcheck --my-ip --public            # Legacy flag also supported

• Added --public flag to the interfaces subcommand and the legacy --my-ip flag.
• Queries multiple public IP APIs concurrently (race strategy — returns the first valid response) with a configurable timeout.
• APIs queried: https://api.ipify.org, https://checkip.amazonaws.com, https://icanhazip.com, and https://ifconfig.me/ip.
• Falls back gracefully to "Unknown" if all queries fail or time out.
• New public_ip_checked key is emitted in the JSON output when using -f json.

2. Output Filtering for Batch TCP / Quick Checks (--show)

netcheck tcp 192.168.1.1-50 22 --show success    # Print only successful connections
netcheck tcp 10.0.0.0/24 443 --show fail         # Print only failures
netcheck -q 192.168.1.1 80,443 --show success    # Legacy quick-mode filtering

• New --show flag accepts all (default), success, or fail.
• Works with both the tcp subcommand and the legacy -q/--quick mode.
• In text mode, only the matching result lines are printed; in JSON/CSV/XML modes, only matching records are included in the output.

3. --json Flag Alias

netcheck -q 192.168.1.1 22 --json                # Equivalent to -f json
netcheck tcp 10.0.0.1 80 --json                  # Cleaner CI syntax

• --json is now a first-class CLI flag (alias for -f json) in legacy mode.
• Eliminates the need to type -f json when piping output to jq or other JSON tools.

4. Concurrent Ping for IP Ranges

netcheck -p 192.168.1.1-20             # Pings 20 hosts concurrently
netcheck ping 10.0.0.1-50 -f json      # JSON batch envelope with typed results

• The -p / --ping legacy flag now expands IP ranges (192.168.1.1-20, 10.0.0.0/24) and executes all pings concurrently using a thread pool.
• Results are sorted by target IP for deterministic output.
• Single-host pings continue to use the simple retry path.
• New typed JSON envelope for multi-ping results:

  {
    "check_date": "2026-07-30 10:00:00",
    "type": "ping",
    "count": 20,
    "results": [
      { "target": "192.168.1.1", "success": true, "latency_ms": 1.2, ... },
      ...
    ]
  }

5. Typed Result Envelopes Across All Modules

Every diagnostic module (dns, http, ssl, ping, tcp, interfaces, traceroute, port_scanner, whois) now includes a "type" key in the result dictionary it returns. This enables downstream code (formatters, MCP tools, CI scripts) to reliably identify the result kind without heuristic metadata inspection.

Module	type value
dns.py	"dns"
http.py	"http"
ssl.py	"ssl"
ping.py	"ping"
tcp.py	"tcp"
interfaces.py	"interfaces" / "ports"
traceroute.py	"traceroute"
port_scanner.py	"scan"
whois.py	"whois"

6. Unified Result-Type Detection in Formatters

• New internal _detect_result_type(res) helper in formatters.py provides a single, authoritative dispatch path for all JSON, CSV, and XML formatting.
• Reads the "type" key first; falls back to heuristic metadata inspection for backward compatibility with pre-v2.3.0 result dicts.
• Eliminates duplicated type-sniffing logic that was previously scattered across format_json, format_csv, and format_xml.

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Breaking Changes

None. All CLI flags, subcommands, and output formats remain fully backward-compatible.

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Files Added / Changed

File	Change
netcheck/cli.py	Added --public, --json, --show flags; concurrent ping range dispatch; IP range handling in -p legacy mode
netcheck/modules/interfaces.py	Added get_public_ip() (concurrent multi-API fetch); get_network_interfaces emits type and public_ip_checked
netcheck/modules/ping.py	Result dict now includes "type": "ping"
netcheck/modules/dns.py	Result dict now includes "type": "dns"
netcheck/modules/http.py	Result dict now includes "type": "http"
netcheck/modules/ssl.py	Result dict now includes "type": "ssl"
netcheck/modules/tcp.py	Result dict now includes "type": "tcp"
netcheck/modules/traceroute.py	Result dict now includes "type": "traceroute"
netcheck/modules/port_scanner.py	Result dict now includes "type": "scan"
netcheck/modules/whois.py	Result dict now includes "type": "whois"
netcheck/utils/formatters.py	Added _detect_result_type(); multi-ping JSON batch envelope; unified type dispatch in format_json, format_csv, format_xml
netcheck/utils/cache.py	Minor utility improvements
netcheck/utils/normalize.py	Minor input-normalisation improvements
netcheck/utils/timeout.py	Minor utility improvements
tests/test_cli.py	Added tests for --public, --show, --quick argument validation, interfaces --public, concurrent ping range, multi-ping JSON envelope
tests/test_netcheck.py	Updated formatter tests to cover typed result detection
docs/releases/RELEASE_NOTES_V2.3.0.md	New — this file
CHANGELOG.md	v2.3.0 entry added

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Release Artefacts

Artefact	Platform
netcheckx-2.3.0-py3-none-any.whl	PyPI / All platforms
netcheckx-2.3.0.tar.gz	Source distribution (PyPI)
netcheck_2.3.0_amd64.deb	Debian / Ubuntu
netcheck_2.3.0_amd64.snap	All Linux (Snap Store)
netcheck-2.3.0-setup.exe	Windows NSIS Installer
netcheck-2.3.0.nupkg	Windows Chocolatey

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Upgrade Guide

Pip Install

pip install --upgrade netcheckx

Snap Package (Linux)

sudo snap refresh netcheck

Debian Package (.deb)

sudo dpkg -i netcheck_2.3.0_amd64.deb

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Full Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for the complete history.