--- /dev/null
+$Id$
+
+Copyright (C) 2001 Frank Singleton <frank.singleton@ericsson.com>
+
+
+What is it ?
+============
+
+As you have probably guessed from the name, "idl2wrs" takes a
+user specified IDL file and attempts to build a dissector that
+can decode the IDL traffic over GIOP. The resulting file is
+"C" code, that should compile okay as an ethereal dissector.
+
+idl2wrs basically parses the data struct given to it by
+the omniidl compiler, and using the GIOP API available in packet-giop.[ch],
+generates get_CDR_xxx calls to decode the CORBA traffic on the wire.
+
+It consists of 4 main files.
+
+README.idl2wrs - This document
+ethereal_be.py - The main compiler backend
+ethereal_gen.py - A helper class, that generates the C code.
+idl2wrs - A simple shell script wrapper that the end user should
+ use to generate the dissector from the IDL file(s).
+
+Why did you do this ?
+=====================
+
+It is important to understand how CORBA traffic looks
+like over GIOP/IIOP, and to help build a tool that can assist
+in troubleshooting CORBA interworking. This was especially the
+case after seeing a lot of discussions about how particular
+IDL types are represented inside an octet stream.
+
+I have also had comments/feedback that this tool would be good for say
+a CORBA class when teaching students how CORBA traffic looks like
+"on the wire".
+
+It is also COOL to work on a great Open Source project such as
+the case with "Ethereal" (http://www.ethereal.com)
+
+
+How to use idl2wrs
+==================
+
+To use the idl2wrs to generate ethereal dissectors, you
+need the following.
+
+
+1. Python must be installed
+ http://python.org/
+
+2. omniidl from the the omniORB package must be available.
+ http://omniorb.sourceforge.net/
+
+3 Of course you need ethereal installed to compile the
+ code an tweak it if required. idl2wrs is part of the
+ standard Ethereal distribution
+
+
+Procedure
+=========
+
+1. To write the C code to stdout.
+
+ idl2wrs <your file.idl>
+
+ eg: idl2wrs echo.idl
+
+
+2. To write to a file, just redirect the output.
+
+ idl2wrs echo.idl > packet-test-idl.c
+
+ You may wish to comment out the register_giop_user_module() code
+ and that will leave you with heuristic dissection.
+
+
+If you dont want to use the shell script wrapper, then try
+steps 3 or 4 instead.
+
+3. To write the C code to stdout.
+
+ Usage: omniidl -p ./ -b ethereal_be <your file.idl>
+
+ eg: omniidl -p ./ -b ethereal_be echo.idl
+
+
+4. To write to a file, just redirect the output.
+
+ omniidl -p ./ -b ethereal_be echo.idl > packet-test-idl.c
+
+ You may wish to comment out the register_giop_user_module() code
+ and that will leave you with heuristic dissection.
+
+
+5. Copy the resulting C code to your ethereal src directory, edit the 2 make files
+ to include the packet-test-idl.c
+
+ cp packet-test-idl.c /dir/where/ethereal/lives/
+ edit Makefile.am
+ edit Makefile.nmake
+
+6. Run configure
+
+ ./configure (or ./autogen.sh)
+
+7. Compile the code
+
+ make
+
+8. Good Luck !!
+
+
+TODO
+====
+
+1. Exception code not generated (yet), but can be added manually.
+2. Enums not converted to symbolic values (yet), but can be added manually.
+3. Add command line options etc
+4. More I am sure :-)
+
+
+Limitations
+===========
+
+See TODO list inside packet-giop.c
+
+
+Notes
+=====
+
+1. The "-p ./" option passed to omniidl indicates that the ethereal_be.py
+ and ethereal_gen.py are residing in the current directory. This may need
+ tweaking if you place these files somewhere else.
+
+2. If it complains about being unable to find some modules (eg tempfile.py),
+ you may want to check if PYTHONPATH is set correctly.
+ On my Linux box, it is PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/python1.5/
+
+Frank Singleton.
+
git.samba.org / obnox / wireshark / wip.git / blobdiff