From 1c8223dbdff2aeb08848f4fae28b457b14f593b2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dario Lombardo Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2016 11:44:11 +0100 Subject: extcap: add info to extcap manpage (taken from README.extcap). Ping-Bug: 13218 Change-Id: Ib43dc2ce8ae7991468b866aec3f03f6a5709f8b2 Reviewed-on: https://code.wireshark.org/review/19177 Reviewed-by: Michael Mann Reviewed-by: Dario Lombardo --- doc/extcap.pod | 30 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) (limited to 'doc/extcap.pod') diff --git a/doc/extcap.pod b/doc/extcap.pod index 84ce4c71f0..28ea798663 100644 --- a/doc/extcap.pod +++ b/doc/extcap.pod @@ -1,10 +1,38 @@ =head1 NAME -extcap - Extcap grammar elements +extcap - The extcap interface =head1 DESCRIPTION +The extcap interface is a versatile plugin interface that allows external binaries +to act as capture interfaces directly in wireshark. It is used in scenarios, where +the source of the capture is not a traditional capture model +(live capture from an interface, from a pipe, from a file, etc). The typical +example is connecting esoteric hardware of some kind to the main wireshark app. + +Without extcap, a capture can always be achieved by directly writing to a capture file: + + the-esoteric-binary --the-strange-flag --interface=stream1 --file dumpfile.pcap & + wireshark dumpfile.pcap + +but the extcap interface allows for such a connection to be easily established and +configured using the wireshark GUI. + +The extcap subsystem is made of multiple extcap binaries that are automatically +called by the GUI in a row. In the following chapters we will refer to them as +"the extcaps". + +Extcaps may be any binary or script within the extcap directory. Please note, that scripts +need to be executable without prefacing a script interpreter before the call. To go deeper +into the extcap utility development, please refer to README.extcap. + +WINDOWS USER: Because of restrictions directly calling the script may not always work. +In such a case, a batch file may be provided, which then in turn executes the script. Please +refer to doc/extcap_example.py for more information. + +=head1 GRAMMAR ELEMENTS + Grammar elements: =over 4 -- cgit v1.2.3