1 NOTE: this document applies to the Wireshark source releases and
2 buildbot source tarballs. It does not apply to source code checked
3 out directly from Subversion, as files such as the configuration
4 script are not checked into Subversion, but need to be generated
5 from the autoconf and automake files.
6 See http://wiki.wireshark.org/Development if you would like to build
7 the source code checked out directly from Subversion.
12 These are installation instructions for Unix and Unix-like systems
13 that can run the "configure" script in this same directory. These
14 are not the installation instructions for Windows systems; see
15 README.win32 for those instructions.
17 0. This is beta software. Beware.
19 1. If you wish to build Wireshark, make sure you have GTK+ and GLib
20 installed. Try running 'pkg-config glib-2.0 --modversion' to see if
21 you have GLib 2.x installed and, if that fails, try running
22 'glib-config --version' to see if you have GLib 1.2[.x] installed.
23 Then try running 'pkg-config gtk+-2.0 --modversion' to see if you
24 have GTK+ 2.x installed and, if that fails, try running
25 'gtk-config --version' to see if you have GTK+ 1.2[.x] installed.
26 Wireshark needs versions 1.2.0 or above of both these packages.
27 If you need to install or re-install GTK+ or GLIB, you can find
32 If you installed GTK+ from a binary package, you may have to
33 install a "development" package; there may be separate "user's"
34 and "developer's" packages, with the former not including
35 header files and the like. For example, Red Hat users will
36 need to install a "gtk-devel" .rpm.
38 Note also that Wireshark configuration defaults to using GTK+ and
39 GLib 2.x; you need to configure with --disable-gtk2 to use GTK+
42 2. If you wish to build TShark, the line-mode version of Wireshark,
43 make sure you have GLIB installed. See note #1 above for instructions
44 on checking if you have GLIB installed. You can download GLIB from
47 3. If you want to capture packets, make sure you have libpcap
48 installed. The latest "official" version can be found at
50 http://www.tcpdump.org .
52 If you've downloaded the 0.5.2 version, make sure you install
53 the headers ('make install-incl') when you install the library.
54 The CVS snapshots will install the headers if you do 'make
55 install', and have no 'install-incl' target.
57 If you installed libpcap from a binary package, you may have to
58 install a "development" package; for example, there's
59 apparently a "libpcap0" Debian package, but it just includes a
60 shared library, a copyright notice, changelog files, and a
61 README file - you also need to install a "libpcap-dev" package
62 to get header files, a non-shared library, and the man page.
63 Similarly, Red Hat 5.x users will need to install a "libpcap-devel"
64 .rpm to go along with the "libpcap" .rpm.
66 4. Run './configure' in the Wireshark distribution directory.
67 Running './configure --help' displays a list of options.
68 The file 'INSTALL.configure' contains general instructions for
69 using 'configure' and 'make'. Wireshark has some non-generic configure
73 Wireshark installs a support file (manuf) in ${PREFIX}/etc by
74 default, where ${PREFIX} comes from --prefix=DIR. If you do not
75 specify any --prefix option, ${PREFIX} is "/usr/local".
76 You can change the location of the manuf file with the --sysconfdir
80 By default 'configure' will look in /usr/local/{include,lib} for
81 additional header files and libraries. Using this switch keeps
82 'configure' from looking there
85 By default, if 'configure' finds the GTK+ libraries, the Makefile
86 build Wireshark, the GUI packet analyzer. You can disable the
87 build of the GUI version of Wireshark with this switch.
90 Build Glib/Gtk+ 1.2[.x]-based wireshark.
93 By default the line-mode packet analyzer, TShark, is built.
94 Use this switch to avoid building it.
97 By default the capture-file editing program is built.
98 Use this switch to avoid building it.
101 By default the capture-file merging program is built.
102 Use this switch to avoid building it.
105 By default the hex-dump-to-capture file conversion program
106 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
109 By default the IDL-to-wireshark-dissector-source-code converter
110 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
113 By default the display-filter-compiler test program is not built.
114 Use this switch to build it.
117 By default the program which creates random packet-capture files
118 is not built. Use this switch to build it.
121 If you choose to build a packet analyzer that can analyze
122 capture files but cannot capture packets on its own, but you
123 *do* have libpcap installed, or if you are trying to build
124 Wireshark on a system that doesn't have libpcap installed (in
125 which case you have no choice but to build a version that can
126 analyze capture files but cannot capture packets on its own),
127 use --without-pcap to avoid using libpcap.
130 Use this to tell Wireshark where you have libpcap installed, if
131 it is installed in a non-standard location.
134 By default, if 'configure' finds zlib (a.k.a, libz), the
135 wiretap library will be built so that it can read compressed
136 capture files. If you have zlib but do not wish to build
137 it into the wiretap library, used by Wireshark, TShark, and
138 the capture-file utilities that come in this package, use
142 Use this to tell Wireshark where you have zlib installed, if it
143 is installed in a non-standard location.
146 If 'configure' finds support for IPv6 name resolution on
147 your system, the packet analyzers will make use of it.
148 To avoid using IPv6 name resolution if you have the support for it,
151 --enable-setuid-install
152 Use this switch to install the packet analyzers as setuid.
153 Installing Wireshark and TShark as setuid 'root' is
154 dangerous. Repeat: IT'S DANGEROUS. Don't do it. (In fact,
155 applications using GTK+ 2.x will refuse to run setuid at
156 all, so Wireshark might not even run setuid.)
159 If your SNMP library needs the SSL library, and your
160 SSL library is installed in a non-standard location,
161 you can specify where your SSL library is with this switch.
164 If 'configure' finds a supported version of the Net-SNMP library
165 on your system, the SNMP dissector will be enhanced to use
166 routines from the Net-SNMP library. Use this switch to avoid
167 using the Net-SNMP library even if you have it installed.
170 Tell the 'configure' script where your net-snmp-config shell script
171 that comes with the net-snmp package is located, if not in a standard
175 By default, if your system can support run-time loadable modules,
176 the packet analyzers are build with support for plugins.
177 Use this switcht to build packet analyzers without plugin support.
180 By default, plugins are installed in
181 ${LIBDIR}/wireshark/plugins/${VERSION}
183 ${LIBDIR} can be set with --libdir, or defaults to ${EPREFIX/lib}
184 ${EPREFIX} can be set with --exec-prefix, or defaults to ${PREFIX}
185 ${VERSION} is the Etherael version.
187 Use this switch to change the location where plugins
190 5. After running './configure', you will see a summary of some
191 of the options you chose. Ensure that the summary reflects
192 what you want. If it doesn't, re-run './configure' with new options.
194 6. Run 'make'. Hopefully, you won't run into any problems.
196 7. Run './wireshark' or './tshark', and make sure things are working.
197 You must have root privileges in order to capture live data.
199 8. Run 'make install'. If you wish to install the man page, run
200 'make install-man'. If you're running a system that supports
201 the Apt, RPM, or System V Release 4 packaging systems, you can
204 make debian-package # Builds a binary package using dpkg
205 make rpm-package # Builds a binary package using rpm
206 make srpm-package # Builds a source package using rpm
207 make svr4-package # Builds a source package using pkgmk
208 make solaris-package # Same as "make svr4-package"
210 to make an installable package for your system.
212 If you have trouble with the build or installation process, you can
213 find assistance on the wireshark-users and wireshark-dev mailing lists.
214 See http://www.wireshark.org/lists/ for details.