3 NOTE: this document applies to the Wireshark source releases and
4 buildbot source tarballs. It does not apply to source code checked
5 out directly from Subversion, as files such as the configuration
6 script are not checked into Subversion, but need to be generated
7 from the autoconf and automake files.
8 See http://wiki.wireshark.org/Development if you would like to build
9 the source code checked out directly from Subversion.
14 These are installation instructions for Unix and Unix-like systems
15 that can run the "configure" script in this same directory. These
16 are not the installation instructions for Windows systems; see
17 README.win32 for those instructions.
19 0. This is software. Beware.
21 1. If you wish to build Wireshark, make sure you have GTK+ and GLib
22 installed. Try running 'pkg-config glib-2.0 --modversion' to see if
23 you have GLib 2.x installed and, if that fails, try running
24 'glib-config --version' to see if you have GLib 1.2[.x] installed.
25 Then try running 'pkg-config gtk+-2.0 --modversion' to see if you
26 have GTK+ 2.x installed and, if that fails, try running
27 'gtk-config --version' to see if you have GTK+ 1.2[.x] installed.
28 Wireshark needs versions 1.2.0 or above of both these packages.
29 If you need to install or re-install GTK+ or GLIB, you can find
34 If you installed GTK+ from a binary package, you may have to
35 install a "development" package; there may be separate "user's"
36 and "developer's" packages, with the former not including
37 header files and the like. For example, Red Hat users will
38 need to install a "gtk-devel" .rpm.
40 Note also that Wireshark configuration defaults to using GTK+ and
41 GLib 2.x; you need to configure with --disable-gtk2 to use GTK+
44 2. If you wish to build TShark, the line-mode version of Wireshark,
45 make sure you have GLIB installed. See note #1 above for instructions
46 on checking if you have GLIB installed. You can download GLIB from
49 3. If you want to capture packets, make sure you have libpcap
50 installed. The latest "official" version can be found at
52 http://www.tcpdump.org .
54 If you've downloaded the 0.5.2 version, make sure you install
55 the headers ('make install-incl') when you install the library.
56 The CVS snapshots will install the headers if you do 'make
57 install', and have no 'install-incl' target.
59 If you installed libpcap from a binary package, you may have to
60 install a "development" package; for example, there's
61 apparently a "libpcap0" Debian package, but it just includes a
62 shared library, a copyright notice, changelog files, and a
63 README file - you also need to install a "libpcap-dev" package
64 to get header files, a non-shared library, and the man page.
65 Similarly, Red Hat 5.x users will need to install a "libpcap-devel"
66 .rpm to go along with the "libpcap" .rpm.
68 4. Building Wireshark requires Perl (specifically the pod2man program)
69 so that the documentation can be built.
71 5. Run './configure' in the Wireshark distribution directory.
72 Running './configure --help' displays a complete list of options.
73 The file 'INSTALL.configure' contains general instructions for
74 using 'configure' and 'make'. Some of the Wireshark non-generic
75 configure options are as follows:
78 Wireshark installs a support file (manuf) in ${PREFIX}/etc by
79 default, where ${PREFIX} comes from --prefix=DIR. If you do not
80 specify any --prefix option, ${PREFIX} is "/usr/local".
81 You can change the location of the manuf file with the --sysconfdir
85 By default 'configure' will look in /usr/local/{include,lib} for
86 additional header files and libraries. Using this switch keeps
87 'configure' from looking there
90 By default, if 'configure' finds the GTK+ libraries, the Makefile
91 builds Wireshark, the GUI packet analyzer. You can disable the
92 build of the GUI version of Wireshark with this switch.
95 Build Glib/Gtk+ 1.2[.x]-based wireshark.
98 By default the line-mode packet analyzer, TShark, is built.
99 Use this switch to avoid building it.
102 By default the capture-file editing program is built.
103 Use this switch to avoid building it.
106 By default the capture-file statistics reporting pogram
107 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
110 By default the capture-file merging program is built.
111 Use this switch to avoid building it.
114 By default the hex-dump-to-capture file conversion program
115 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
118 By default the IDL-to-wireshark-dissector-source-code converter
119 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
122 By default the display-filter-compiler test program is built.
123 Use this switch to avoid building it.
126 By default the program which creates random packet-capture files
127 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
130 By default the network traffic capture program is built.
131 Use this switch to avoid building it.
134 By default the program used to dump and analyze raw libpcap data
135 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
138 If 'configure' finds support for IPv6 name resolution on
139 your system, the packet analyzers will make use of it.
140 To avoid using IPv6 name resolution if you have the support for it,
143 --enable-setuid-install
144 Wireshark and TShark rely on dumpcap for packet capture. Setting this
145 flag installs dumpcap with setuid root permissions, which lets any user
146 on the system capture live traffic. If this is not desired, you can
147 restrict dumpcap's permissions so that only a single user or group can
148 run it. This can be used in conjunction with --with-libcap described
151 Running Wireshark or TShark as root is not recommended.
154 By default, if 'configure' finds libcap (the POSIX capabilities
155 library) dumpcap will be built so that if it is installed setuid
156 root, it will attempt to retain CAP_NET_RAW and CAP_NET_ADMIN
157 before dropping root privileges. Use this option to disable this
161 Use this option to tell 'configure' where libcap is installed,
162 if it is installed in a non-standard location. Note that libcap
163 (the POSIX capabilities library, sans "p") and libpcap (the
164 packet capture library, avec "p") are two very different things.
167 If you choose to build a packet analyzer that can analyze
168 capture files but cannot capture packets on its own, but you
169 *do* have libpcap installed, or if you are trying to build
170 Wireshark on a system that doesn't have libpcap installed (in
171 which case you have no choice but to build a version that can
172 analyze capture files but cannot capture packets on its own),
173 use --without-pcap to avoid using libpcap.
176 Use this to tell Wireshark where you have libpcap installed, if
177 it is installed in a non-standard location.
180 By default, if 'configure' finds zlib (a.k.a, libz), the
181 wiretap library will be built so that it can read compressed
182 capture files. If you have zlib but do not wish to build
183 it into the wiretap library, used by Wireshark, TShark, and
184 the capture-file utilities that come in this package, use
188 Use this to tell Wireshark where you have zlib installed, if it
189 is installed in a non-standard location.
192 By default, if your system can support run-time loadable modules,
193 the packet analyzers are build with support for plugins.
194 Use this switch to build packet analyzers without plugin support.
197 By default, plugins are installed in
198 ${LIBDIR}/wireshark/plugins/${VERSION}
200 ${LIBDIR} can be set with --libdir, or defaults to ${EPREFIX/lib}
201 ${EPREFIX} can be set with --exec-prefix, or defaults to ${PREFIX}
202 ${VERSION} is the Wireshark version.
204 Use this switch to change the location where plugins
207 6. After running './configure', you will see a summary of some
208 of the options you chose. Ensure that the summary reflects
209 what you want. If it doesn't, re-run './configure' with new options.
211 7. Run 'make'. Hopefully, you won't run into any problems.
213 8. Run './wireshark' or './tshark' or ./dumpcap, and make sure things are
214 working. You must have root privileges in order to capture live data.
216 9. Run 'make install'. If you're running a system that supports
217 the Apt, RPM, or System V Release 4 packaging systems, you can
220 make debian-package # Builds a binary package using dpkg
221 make rpm-package # Builds a binary package using rpm
222 make srpm-package # Builds a source package using rpm
223 make svr4-package # Builds a source package using pkgmk
224 make solaris-package # Same as "make svr4-package"
226 to make an installable package for your system.
228 If you have trouble with the build or installation process, you can
229 find assistance on the wireshark-users and wireshark-dev mailing lists.
230 See http://www.wireshark.org/lists/ for details.