pcap-thread

PCAP helper library with POSIX threads support and transport layer callbacks

About

This is a helper library that will initialize the pcap_t for you and, if you have support, launch a thread per pcap_t for the collection which is then feeded back to the main thread using a queue before being passed on to the callback.

Additional callbacks exists for simplifying the handling of various transport layers, based on pcap_layers by Duane Wessels (The Measurement Factory, Inc.), such as ether, VLAN, IP, IPv4, IPv6, GRE tunnels, UDP and TCP.

Usage

Here is a short example how to use this helper, see the hexdump directory for a more complete example.

#include "config.h"
#include "pcap-thread/pcap_thread.h"

void callback(u_char* user, const struct pcap_pkthdr* packet_header, const u_char* packet, int datalink_type) {
    ...
}

int main(void) {
    pcap_thread_t pt = PCAP_THREAD_T_INIT;

    pcap_thread_set_snaplen(&pt, 65535);
    pcap_thread_set_filter(&pt, "port 80", 7);
    pcap_thread_set_callback(&pt, callback);
    pcap_thread_open(&pt, "eth0", 0);
    pcap_thread_open(&pt, "lo", 0);
    pcap_thread_run(&pt);
    pcap_thread_close(&pt);

    return 0;
}

git submodule

git submodule init
git submodule add https://github.com/DNS-OARC/pcap-thread.git src/pcap-thread
git submodule update --init --recursive

auto(re)conf

autoreconf ... --include=src/pcap-thread/m4

configure.ac

AX_PCAP_THREAD

Top level Makefile.am

ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = ... -I src/pcap-thread/m4

Makefile.am

AM_CFLAGS += $(PTHREAD_CFLAGS)
AM_CPPFLAGS += $(PTHREAD_CFLAGS)
AM_CXXFLAGS += $(PTHREAD_CFLAGS)

program_SOURCES += pcap-thread/pcap-thread.c
dist_program_SOURCES += pcap-thread/pcap-thread.h
program_LDADD += $(PTHREAD_LIBS)

Author(s)

Jerry Lundström jerry@dns-oarc.net

Copyright and license

Copyright (c) 2016-2023, OARC, Inc. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.