slsnif - Serial line sniffer



  Copyright (C) 2001 Yan Gurtovoy

  slsnif operates by opening a pty and linking it to the serial port.
  It takes following parameters / options:

  1. Serial port to open (required).
  2. Name of the file to direct output to (optional, defaults to stdout).
  3. Desired baudrate (optional, defaults to 9600 baud).
  4. Timestamp On/Off (optional, defaults to Off).
  5. Print ascii values in hex On/Off (optional, defaults to Off)
  6. Print number of bytes transmitted On/Off (optional, defaults to Off).
  7. Optional colors for timestamp, number of bytes transmitted,
     and normal output.
  8. Lock port On/Off (optional, defaults to On).
  9. Use Unix98 ptys instead of BSD ptys (optional, defaults to BSD style).
  10. Second serial port to open. If specified, this port will be used
     instead of a pty, thus providing an ability to log data between
     two serial ports.
  11. Filenames for dumping raw data into, separate files are used for
      input (from device) and output (from host) data.

  See man page for details on syntax, here are a couple of examples...
  
  Examples:
    slsnif /dev/ttyS1
        -- opens port /dev/ttyS1, sets speed to 9600 baud, output is sent
           to stdout
    slsnif /dev/ttyS0 -l log.txt
        -- opens port /dev/ttyS0, sets speed to 9600 baud, output is sent
           to file log.txt
    slsnif /dev/ttyS2 --log log1.txt -s 2400
        -- opens port /dev/ttyS2, sets speed to 2400 baud, output is sent
           to file log1.txt
    slsnif /dev/ttyS1 --speed 4800
        -- opens port /dev/ttyS1, sets speed to 4800 baud, output is sent
           to stdout.
    slsnif -p /dev/ttyS0 /dev/ttyS1
        -- opens ports /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/ttyS1. No pty is opened
	   in this case. Data coming from /dev/ttyS1 is considered
	   to be coming from a device and data coming from /dev/ttyS0
	   is considered to be coming from host. This consideration
	   is purely cosmetic, it only affects the way output works,
	   i.e. which chunks of data will be placed on lines that
	   begin with 'Device' and which chunks will go on lines
	   that begin with 'Host'. If pty is used, data from pty is
	   considered to be 'from host' and data from port is 'from
	   device'.
    slsnif -h
        -- displays help.           

  RC file:
    slsnif can read some of options from a configuration file
    '.slsnifrc', located in user's home directory. The following
    options can be specified in this file:
    
      RC-file option        corresponding command line option
      ------------------    ---------------------------------
      TOTALBYTES ON/OFF     -b (--bytes)
      TIMESTAMP  ON/OFF     -t (--timestamp)
      DISPLAYHEX ON/OFF     -x (--hex)
      NOLOCK     ON/OFF     -n (--nolock)
      SYSVPTY    ON/OFF     -u (--unix98)
      COLOR      <color>    --color <color>
      TIMECOLOR  <color>    --timecolor <color>
      BYTESCOLOR <color>    --bytescolor <color>

    Valid values for <color> are:
      black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white,
      brightblack, brightred, brightgreen, brightyellow,
      brightblue, brightmagenta, brightcyan, and brightwhite.
            
    Options provided on the command line always override the
    ones read from the rc-file.
    
    An example of rc-file with comments (slsnifrc-example) is
    included in the distribution.
   
  How to use it:
    - start slsnif on a given port, note pty it has opened. The pty name is
      also available from file /tmp/slsnif_pty (useful for scripting).
    - configure controlling software for the device being debugged to use this
      pty instead of the real port, start controlling software.
    - while slsnif is running you can send it a SIGHUP signal, which would cause the
      rotation of all log files (i.e. file pointers will be moved to the beginning of
      the file).
    - while slsnif is running you can also send it a SIGUSR1 signal, which would cause
      immediate resynchronization of the port settings.
    - when you're done, stop slsnif by hitting <Ctrl + C>.
      
  slsnif is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  (at your option) any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  GNU General Public License for more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA

Comments are welcome.

	- Yan Gurtovoy <ymg@dakotacom.net>