Comment 2 for bug 493376

Ive done some more research on this, and it seems similar to a bug in Debian #436804 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=436804

The Debian bug compains about the same behavior (not printing hops after a failed reverse lookup) when using the -T (tcp syn) method. I have verified this also happens with the Karmic package.

It looks like both the ICMP and TCP traceroute methods have this problem

johns@ghidorah:~$ sudo traceroute -Tn www.cheeseplant.org
traceroute to www.cheeseplant.org (66.34.180.232), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1 192.168.1.1 1.690 ms 2.201 ms 2.882 ms
 2 151.164.184.117 63.285 ms 63.327 ms 63.390 ms
 3 76.246.22.2 63.465 ms 63.570 ms 63.753 ms
 4 151.164.43.56 63.713 ms 63.753 ms 63.939 ms
 5 12.122.114.17 64.684 ms 64.743 ms 64.808 ms
 6 64.125.12.117 64.866 ms 63.837 ms 63.129 ms
 7 64.125.30.177 64.149 ms 33.679 ms 33.742 ms
 8 64.125.28.13 33.786 ms 33.775 ms 33.826 ms
 9 64.125.24.17 41.585 ms 43.878 ms 47.042 ms
10 64.125.26.121 83.784 ms 85.009 ms 95.887 ms
11 64.125.30.58 97.909 ms 99.996 ms 130.661 ms
12 64.124.196.154 130.664 ms 129.182 ms 98.039 ms
13 64.182.161.6 98.054 ms 98.062 ms 98.117 ms
14 66.34.180.232 98.177 ms 95.117 ms 97.577 ms
johns@ghidorah:~$ sudo traceroute -T www.cheeseplant.org
traceroute to www.cheeseplant.org (66.34.180.232), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 1.423 ms 1.922 ms *
 2 * * *
 3 * * *
 4 * * *
 5 * * *
 6 * xe-1-2-0.mpr4.sjc7.us.above.net (64.125.12.117) 20.209 ms 21.882 ms
 7 xe-3-0-0.er2.sjc2.us.above.net (64.125.30.177) 25.857 ms 28.910 ms 30.930 ms
 8 xe-1-0-0.er1.sjc2.us.above.net (64.125.28.13) 33.331 ms 35.510 ms 38.167 ms
 9 * * *
10 xe-0-2-0.er1.iah1.us.above.net (64.125.26.121) 90.213 ms 93.451 ms 95.295 ms
11 xe-7-0-0.er1.dfw2.us.above.net (64.125.30.58) 96.910 ms 99.055 ms 62.546 ms
12 64.124.196.154.allocated.above.net (64.124.196.154) 64.950 ms 63.527 ms 65.321 ms
13 64.182.161.6 (64.182.161.6) 68.365 ms 63.376 ms 65.979 ms
14 66.34.180.232 (66.34.180.232) 68.304 ms 70.657 ms 73.149 ms
johns@ghidorah:~$ sudo traceroute -I www.cheeseplant.org
traceroute to www.cheeseplant.org (66.34.180.232), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 1.294 ms 1.628 ms *
 2 * * *
 3 * * *
 4 * * *
 5 * * *
 6 * xe-1-2-0.mpr4.sjc7.us.above.net (64.125.12.117) 20.657 ms 22.702 ms
 7 xe-3-0-0.er2.sjc2.us.above.net (64.125.30.177) 102.986 ms 103.911 ms 104.865 ms
 8 xe-1-0-0.er1.sjc2.us.above.net (64.125.28.13) 33.422 ms 36.282 ms 38.550 ms
 9 xe-2-3-0.er1.lax9.us.above.net (64.125.24.17) 48.551 ms 50.962 ms 53.957 ms
10 xe-0-2-0.er1.iah1.us.above.net (64.125.26.121) 90.645 ms 116.818 ms 117.377 ms
11 xe-7-0-0.er1.dfw2.us.above.net (64.125.30.58) 97.199 ms 99.774 ms 62.908 ms
12 64.124.196.154.allocated.above.net (64.124.196.154) 65.801 ms 68.209 ms 70.388 ms
13 64.182.161.6 (64.182.161.6) 73.355 ms 75.333 ms *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * 66.34.180.232 (66.34.180.232) 63.688 ms 65.565 ms