forked from osmocom/wireshark
722 lines
25 KiB
XML
722 lines
25 KiB
XML
<!-- WSDG Chapter Introduction -->
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<!-- $Id$ -->
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<chapter id="ChapterIntroduction">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<section id="ChIntroIntro">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>
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This chapter will provide you with information about Wireshark
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development in general.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroWhatIs">
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<title>What is <application>Wireshark?</application></title>
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<para>
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Well, if you want to start Wireshark development, you might already
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know what Wireshark is doing. If not, please have a look at the
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<ulink url="&WiresharkUsersGuidePage;">Wireshark User's Guide</ulink>,
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which will provide a lot of general information about it.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroPlatforms">
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<title>Platforms Wireshark runs on</title>
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<para>
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Wireshark currently runs on most UNIX platforms and various Windows
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platforms. It requires GTK+, GLib, libpcap and some other libraries in
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order to run.
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</para>
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<para>
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As Wireshark is developed in a platform independent way and uses libraries
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(such as the GTK+ GUI library) which are available for a lot of different platforms,
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it's thus available on a wide variety of platforms.
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</para>
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<para>
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If a binary package is not available for your platform, you should
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download the source and try to build it. Please report your experiences
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to <ulink url="mailto:&WiresharkDevMailList;">&WiresharkDevMailList;</ulink>.
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</para>
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<para>
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Binary packages are available for at least the following platforms:
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</para>
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<section><title>Unix</title>
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<para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Apple Mac OS X</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>BeOS</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>FreeBSD</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>HP-UX</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>IBM AIX</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>NetBSD</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>OpenBSD</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>SCO UnixWare/OpenUnix</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>SGI Irix</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Sun Solaris/Intel</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Sun Solaris/Sparc</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Tru64 UNIX (formerly Digital UNIX)</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</section>
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<section><title>Linux</title>
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<para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Debian GNU/Linux</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Ubuntu</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Gentoo Linux</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>IBM S/390 Linux (Red Hat)</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Mandrake Linux</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>PLD Linux</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Red Hat Linux</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Rock Linux</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Slackware Linux</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Suse Linux</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</section>
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<section><title>Microsoft Windows</title>
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<para>
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Thanks to the Win32 API, development on all Windows platforms will be
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done in a very similar way. All Windows platforms referred to as Win32,
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Win or Windows may be used with the same meaning.
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Older Windows versions are no longer supported by Wireshark.
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As Windows CE differs a lot compared to the other Windows platforms
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mentioned, Wireshark will not run on Windows CE and there are no plans to
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support it.
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</para>
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<para>
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Also the 64 bit Windows version are now supported by Wireshark. Although
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not all libraries are made 64 bit ready yet, basic operations are all
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available.
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</para>
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<para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Windows Server 2000</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Windows XP</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Windows Server 2003</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Windows Vista</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Windows 7</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Windows Server 2008</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroDevelopment">
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<title>
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Development and maintenance of <application>Wireshark</application>
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</title>
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<para>
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Wireshark was initially developed by Gerald Combs. Ongoing development
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and maintenance of Wireshark is handled by the Wireshark core developers,
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a loose group of individuals who fix bugs and provide new functionality.
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</para>
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<para>
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There have also been a large number of people who have contributed
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protocol dissectors and oher improvements to Wireshark, and it is
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expected that this will continue. You can find a list of the people who
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have contributed code to Wireshark by checking the About dialog box of
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Wireshark, or have a look at the <ulink url="&WiresharkAuthorsPage;"/>
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page on the Wireshark web site.
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</para>
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<para>
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The
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communication between the developers is usually done through the developer
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mailing list, which can be joined by anyone interested in the development
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activities. At the time this document was written, more than 500 persons were
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subscribed to this mailing list!
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</para>
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<para>
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It is strongly recommended to join the developer mailing list, if you
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are going to do any Wireshark development. See
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<xref linkend="ChIntroMailingLists"/> about the different Wireshark
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mailing lists available.
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</para>
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<section><title>Programming language(s) used</title>
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<para>
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Almost any part of Wireshark is implemented in plain ANSI C.
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</para>
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<para>
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The typical task for a new Wireshark developer is to extend an existing,
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or write a new dissector for a specific network protocol. As (almost) any
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dissector is written in plain old ANSI C, a good knowledge about ANSI C
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will be sufficient for Wireshark development in almost any case.
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</para>
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<para>
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So unless you are going to change the build process of Wireshark
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itself, you won't come in touch with any other programming language than
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ANSI C (such as Perl or Python, which are used only in the Wireshark build
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process).
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</para>
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<para>
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Beside the usual tools for developing a program in C (compiler, make, ...),
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the build process uses some additional helper tools (Perl, Python, Sed,
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...), which are needed for the build process when Wireshark
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is to be build and installed from the released source packages. If Wireshark
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is installed from a binary package, none of these helper tools are needed on
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the target system.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section><title>Open Source Software</title>
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<para>
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Wireshark is an open source software (OSS) project, and is released under
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the <ulink url="&GPLWebsite;">GNU General Public License</ulink> (GPL).
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You can freely use Wireshark on any number of computers you like, without
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worrying about license keys or fees or such. In addition, all source
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code is freely available under the GPL. Because of that, it is very easy
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for people to add new protocols to Wireshark, either as plugins, or built
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into the source, and they often do!
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</para>
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<para>
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You are welcome to
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modify Wireshark to suit your own needs, and it would be appreciated
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if you contribute your improvements back to the Wireshark community.
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</para>
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<para>
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You gain three benefits by contributing your improvements back to the
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community:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Other people who find your contributions useful will appreciate
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them, and you will know that you have helped people in the
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same way that the developers of Wireshark have helped you and other
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people.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The developers of Wireshark might improve your changes even more,
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as there's always room for improvement. Or they may implement some
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advanced things on top of your code, which can be useful for yourself
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too.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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The maintainers and developers of Wireshark will maintain your
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code as well, fixing it when API changes or other changes are
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made, and generally keeping it in tune with what is happening
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with Wireshark. So if Wireshark is updated (which is done often),
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you can get a new Wireshark version from the website and your changes
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will already be included without any effort for you.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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<para>
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The Wireshark source code and binary packages for some platforms are all
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available on the download page of the Wireshark website:
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<ulink url="&WiresharkDownloadPage;">&WiresharkDownloadPage;</ulink>.
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroReleases">
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<title>Releases and distributions</title>
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<para>
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The officially released files can be found at: <ulink
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url="&WiresharkDownloadPage;"/>. A new Wireshark version is released after
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significant changes compared to the last release are completed or a
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serious security issue is encountered. The typical release schedule is
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about every 4-8 weeks (although this may vary).
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</para>
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<para>
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There are two kinds of distributions: binary and source; both have their
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advantages and disadvantages.
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</para>
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<section id="ChIntroReleaseBinary">
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<title>Binary distributions</title>
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<para>
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Binary distributions are usually easy to install (as simply starting
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the appropriate file is usually the only thing to do). They are available
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for the following systems:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Windows (.exe file). The typical Windows end user is used to get a setup.exe
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file which will install all the required things for him.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Win32 U3 (.u3 file). Special distribution for U3 capable USB memory sticks.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Win32 PAF (.paf.exe file). Another Windows end user method is to get a portable
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application file which will install all the required things for him.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Debian (.deb file). A user of a Debian Package Manager (DPKG) based system
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obtains a .deb file from which the package manager checks the
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dependencies and installs the software.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Red Hat (.rpm file). A user of a Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) based system
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obtains an .rpm file from which the package manager checks the
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dependencies and installs the software.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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MAC OS X (.dmg file). The typical MAC OS X end user is used to get a .dmg
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file which will install all the required things for him. The other
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requirement is to have the X11.app installed.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Solaris. A Solaris user obtains a file from which the package manager
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(PKG) checks the dependencies and installs the software.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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However, if you want to start developing with Wireshark, the binary
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distributions won't be too helpful, as you need the source files, of
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course.
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</para>
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<para>
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For details about how to build these binary distributions yourself,
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e.g. if you need a distribution for a special audience, see
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<xref linkend="ChSrcBinary"/>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroReleaseSource">
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<title>Source code distributions</title>
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<para>
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It's still common for UNIX developers to give the end user a source
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tarball and let the user compile it on their target machine (configure,
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make, make install). However, for different UNIX (Linux) distributions
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it's becoming more common to release binary packages (e.g. .deb or .rpm
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files) these days.
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</para>
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<para>
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You should use the released sources if you want to build Wireshark from
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source on your platform for productive use. However, if you going to
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develop changes to the Wireshark sources, it might be better to use the
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latest SVN sources. For details about the different ways to get the
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Wireshark source code see <xref linkend="ChSrcObtain"/>.
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</para>
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<para>
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Before building Wireshark from a source distribution, make sure you have
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all the tools and libraries required to build. The following chapters will
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describe the required tools and libraries in detail.
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroAutomated">
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<title>Automated Builds (Buildbot)</title>
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<para>
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The Wireshark Buildbot automatically rebuilds Wireshark on every
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change of the source code repository and indicates problematic changes.
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This frees the developers from repeating (and annoying) work, so time can
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be spent on more interesting tasks.
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</para>
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<section>
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<title>Advantages</title>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>
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Recognizing (cross platform) build problems - early. Compilation problems
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can be narrowed down to a few commits, making a fix much easier.
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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"Health status" overview of the sources. A quick look at: <ulink
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url="http://buildbot.wireshark.org/trunk/" /> gives a good "feeling" if
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the sources are currently "well".
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On the other hand, if all is "red", an update of a personal source tree
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might better be done later ...
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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"Up to date" binary packages are available.
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After a change was committed to the repository, a binary package /
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installer is usually available within a few hours at: <ulink
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url="http://www.wireshark.org/download/automated/" />.
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This can be quite helpful, e.g. a bug reporter can easily verify a bugfix
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by installing a recent build.
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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Automated regression tests. In particular, the fuzz tests often indicate
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"real life" problems that are otherwise hard to find.
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</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section>
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<title>What does the Buildbot do?</title>
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<para>
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The Buildbot will do the following (to a different degree on the different
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platforms):
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>
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checkout from the source repository
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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build
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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create binary package(s) / installer
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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create source package (and check completeness)
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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run regression tests
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</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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Each step is represented at the status page by a rectangle, green if it
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succeeded or red if it failed. Most steps provide a link to the corresponding
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console logfile, to get additional information.
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</para>
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<para>
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The Buildbot runs on a platform collection that represents the different
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"platform specialties" quite well:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>
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Windows XP x86 (Win32, little endian, VS 9)
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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Windows XP x86-64 (Win64, little endian, VS 9)
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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Ubuntu x86-64 (Linux, little endian, gcc)
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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Solaris SPARC (Solaris, big endian, gcc)
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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Mac OS-X PPC (BSD, big endian, gcc)
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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Mac OS-X x86 (BSD, little endian, gcc)
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</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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Each platform is represented at the status page by a single column, the
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most recent entries are at the top.
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroHelp">
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<title>Reporting problems and getting help</title>
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<para>
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If you have problems, or need help with Wireshark, there are several
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places that may be of interest to you (well, beside this guide of
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course).
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</para>
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<section id="ChIntroHomepage"><title>Website</title>
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<para>
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You will find lot's of useful information on the Wireshark homepage at
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<ulink url="&WiresharkWebSite;">&WiresharkWebSite;</ulink>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroWiki"><title>Wiki</title>
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<para>
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The Wireshark Wiki at <ulink
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url="&WiresharkWikiSite;">&WiresharkWikiSite;</ulink> provides a wide range
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of information related to Wireshark and packet capturing in general.
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You will find a lot of information not part of this developer's guide. For
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example, there is an explanation how to capture on a switched network,
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an ongoing effort to build a protocol reference and a lot more.
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</para>
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<para>
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And best of all, if you would like to contribute your knowledge on a
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specific topic (maybe a network protocol you know well), you can edit the
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wiki pages by simply using your webbrowser.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="ChIntroFAQ"><title>FAQ</title>
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<para>
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The "Frequently Asked Questions" will list often asked questions and
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the corresponding answers.
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</para>
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<para>
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Before sending any mail to the mailing lists below, be sure to read the
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FAQ, as it will often answer the question(s) you might have. This will save
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yourself and others a lot of time (keep in mind that a lot of people are
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subscribed to the mailing lists).
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</para>
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<para>
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You will find the FAQ inside Wireshark by clicking the menu item
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Help/Contents and selecting the FAQ page in the upcoming dialog.
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</para>
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<para>
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An online version is available at the Wireshark website:
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<ulink url="&WiresharkFAQPage;">&WiresharkFAQPage;</ulink>. You might
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prefer this online version, as it's typically more up to date and the HTML
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format is easier to use.
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</para>
|
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</section>
|
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|
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<section id="ChIntroOtherSources"><title>Other sources</title>
|
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<para>
|
|
If you don't find the information you need inside this book, there are
|
|
various other sources of information:
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
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<listitem>
|
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<para>
|
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the file <filename>doc/README.developer</filename> and
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all the other README.xxx files in the source code - these are various
|
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documentation files on different topics
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</para>
|
|
<note><title>Read the README!</title>
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<para>
|
|
The README.developer is packed full with all kinds of details relevant
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to the developer of Wireshark source code. It advices you around common
|
|
pitfalls, shows you basic layout of dissector code, shows details of the
|
|
API's available to the dissector developer, etc.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
the Wireshark source code
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
tool documentation of the various tools used
|
|
(e.g. manpages of sed, gcc, ...)
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
the different mailing lists: see <xref linkend="ChIntroMailingLists"/>
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
...
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
</para>
|
|
</section>
|
|
|
|
<section id="ChIntroMailingLists"><title>Mailing Lists</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
There are several mailing lists available on specific Wireshark topics:
|
|
<variablelist>
|
|
<varlistentry><term><command>wireshark-announce</command></term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
This mailing list will inform you about new program
|
|
releases, which usually appear about every 4-8 weeks.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
<varlistentry><term><command>wireshark-users</command></term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
This list is for users of Wireshark. People post
|
|
questions about building and using Wireshark, others (hopefully)
|
|
provide answers.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
<varlistentry><term><command>wireshark-dev</command></term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
This list is for Wireshark developers. People post questions about
|
|
the development of Wireshark, others (hopefully) provide answers.
|
|
If you want to start developing a protocol dissector, join this list.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
<varlistentry><term><command>wireshark-bugs</command></term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
This list is for Wireshark developers. Every time a change to the bug
|
|
database occurs, a mail to this mailing list is generated.
|
|
If you want to be notified about all the changes to the bug
|
|
database, join this list. Details about the bug database can be
|
|
found in <xref linkend="ChIntroBugDatabase"/>.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
<varlistentry><term><command>wireshark-commits</command></term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
This list is for Wireshark developers. Every time a change to the SVN
|
|
repository is checked in, a mail to this mailing list is generated.
|
|
If you want to be notified about all the changes to the SVN
|
|
repository, join this list. Details about the SVN repository can be
|
|
found in <xref linkend="ChSrcSVNServer"/>.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
</variablelist>
|
|
You can subscribe to each of these lists from the Wireshark web site:
|
|
<ulink url="&WiresharkWebSite;">&WiresharkWebSite;</ulink>. Simply
|
|
select the <command>mailing lists</command> link on the left hand
|
|
side of the site. The lists are archived at the Wireshark web site
|
|
as well.
|
|
<tip><title>Tip!</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
You can search in the list archives to see if someone previously asked the same
|
|
question and maybe already got an answer. That way you
|
|
don't have to wait until someone answers your question.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</tip>
|
|
</para>
|
|
</section>
|
|
|
|
<section id="ChIntroBugDatabase"><title>Bug database (Bugzilla)</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The Wireshark community collects bug reports in a Bugzilla database at
|
|
<ulink url="&WiresharkBugsSite;">&WiresharkBugsSite;</ulink>.
|
|
This database is filled with manually filed bug reports, usually after some
|
|
discussion on wireshark-dev, and automatic bug reports from the buildbot tools.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</section>
|
|
|
|
<section id="ChIntroReportProblems"><title>Reporting Problems</title>
|
|
<note><title>Note!</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Before reporting any problems, please make sure you have installed the
|
|
latest version of Wireshark. Reports on older maintainance releases are
|
|
usually met with an upgrade request.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
<para>
|
|
If you report problems, provide as much
|
|
information as possible. In general, just think about what
|
|
you would need to find that problem, if someone else sends you such a
|
|
problem report. Also keep in mind that people compile/run Wireshark on a lot of different
|
|
platforms.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
When reporting problems with Wireshark, it is helpful if you supply the
|
|
following information:
|
|
<orderedlist>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The version number of Wireshark and the dependent libraries linked with
|
|
it, e.g. GTK+, etc. You can obtain this with the command
|
|
<command>wireshark -v</command>.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Information about the platform you run Wireshark on.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
A detailed description of your problem.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>
|
|
If you get an error/warning message, copy the text of that message (and
|
|
also a few lines before and after it, if there are some), so others may
|
|
find the build step where things go wrong.
|
|
Please don't give something like: "I get a warning when compiling x"
|
|
as this won't give any direction to look at.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</orderedlist>
|
|
</para>
|
|
<note><title>Don't send large files!</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Do not send large files (>100KB) to the mailing lists, just place a note
|
|
that further data is available on request. Large files will only annoy a
|
|
lot of people on the list who are not interested in your specific problem.
|
|
If required, you will be asked for further data by the persons who really
|
|
can help you.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
<note><title>Don't send confidential information!</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
If you send captured data to the mailing lists, or add it to your bug report,
|
|
be sure it doesn't contain any sensitive or confidential information,
|
|
such as passwords. Visibility of such files can be limited to certain
|
|
groups in the Bugzilla database though.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
</section>
|
|
|
|
<section><title>Reporting Crashes on UNIX/Linux platforms</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
When reporting crashes with Wireshark, it is helpful if you supply the
|
|
traceback information (besides the information mentioned in
|
|
<xref linkend="ChIntroReportProblems"/>).
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
You can obtain this traceback information with the following commands:
|
|
<programlisting>
|
|
<![CDATA[
|
|
$ gdb `whereis wireshark | cut -f2 -d: | cut -d' ' -f2` core >& bt.txt
|
|
backtrace
|
|
^D
|
|
$
|
|
]]>
|
|
</programlisting>
|
|
<note>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Type the characters in the first line verbatim! Those are
|
|
back-tics there!
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
<note>
|
|
<para>
|
|
backtrace is a <command>gdb</command> command. You should
|
|
enter it verbatim after the first line shown above, but it will not be
|
|
echoed. The ^D
|
|
(Control-D, that is, press the Control key and the D key
|
|
together) will cause <command>gdb</command> to exit. This will
|
|
leave you with a file called
|
|
<filename>bt.txt</filename> in the current directory.
|
|
Include the file with your bug report.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
<note>
|
|
<para>
|
|
If you do not have <command>gdb</command> available, you
|
|
will have to check out your operating system's debugger.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</note>
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
You should mail the traceback to the
|
|
<ulink url="mailto:&WiresharkDevMailList;">&WiresharkDevMailList;</ulink>
|
|
mailing list, or attach it to your bug report.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</section>
|
|
|
|
<section><title>Reporting Crashes on Windows platforms</title>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The Windows distributions don't contain the symbol files (.pdb), because
|
|
they are very large. For this reason it's not possible to create
|
|
a meaningful backtrace file from it. You should report your crash just
|
|
like other problems, using the mechanism from
|
|
<xref linkend="ChIntroReportProblems"/>.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</section>
|
|
</section>
|
|
|
|
</chapter>
|
|
<!-- End of WSDG Chapter Introduction -->
|