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.windows 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 Please also note that GTK+ 1.2[.x] is only supported up to
45 Wireshark 1.0.x. From Wireshark 1.1.x onwards only GTK+ 2.x
48 2. If you wish to build TShark, the line-mode version of Wireshark,
49 make sure you have GLIB installed. See note #1 above for instructions
50 on checking if you have GLIB installed. You can download GLIB from
53 3. If you want to capture packets, make sure you have libpcap
54 installed. The latest "official" version can be found at
56 http://www.tcpdump.org .
58 If you've downloaded the 0.5.2 version, make sure you install
59 the headers ('make install-incl') when you install the library.
60 The CVS snapshots will install the headers if you do 'make
61 install', and have no 'install-incl' target.
63 If you installed libpcap from a binary package, you may have to
64 install a "development" package; for example, there's
65 apparently a "libpcap0" Debian package, but it just includes a
66 shared library, a copyright notice, changelog files, and a
67 README file - you also need to install a "libpcap-dev" package
68 to get header files, a non-shared library, and the man page.
69 Similarly, Red Hat 5.x users will need to install a "libpcap-devel"
70 .rpm to go along with the "libpcap" .rpm.
72 4. Building Wireshark requires Perl (specifically the pod2man program)
73 so that the documentation can be built.
75 5. Run './configure' in the Wireshark distribution directory.
76 Running './configure --help' displays a complete list of options.
77 The file 'INSTALL.configure' contains general instructions for
78 using 'configure' and 'make'. Some of the Wireshark non-generic
79 configure options are as follows:
82 Wireshark installs a support file (manuf) in ${PREFIX}/etc by
83 default, where ${PREFIX} comes from --prefix=DIR. If you do not
84 specify any --prefix option, ${PREFIX} is "/usr/local".
85 You can change the location of the manuf file with the --sysconfdir
89 By default 'configure' will look in /usr/local/{include,lib} for
90 additional header files and libraries. Using this switch keeps
91 'configure' from looking there
94 By default, if 'configure' finds the GTK+ libraries, the Makefile
95 builds Wireshark, the GUI packet analyzer. You can disable the
96 build of the GUI version of Wireshark with this switch.
99 Build Glib/Gtk+ 1.2[.x]-based wireshark.
100 Note: not supported from Wireshark 1.1.x onwards
103 By default the line-mode packet analyzer, TShark, is built.
104 Use this switch to avoid building it.
107 By default the capture-file editing program is built.
108 Use this switch to avoid building it.
111 By default the capture-file statistics reporting pogram
112 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
115 By default the capture-file merging program is built.
116 Use this switch to avoid building it.
119 By default the hex-dump-to-capture file conversion program
120 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
123 By default the display-filter-compiler test program is built.
124 Use this switch to avoid building it.
127 By default the program which creates random packet-capture files
128 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
131 By default the network traffic capture program is built.
132 Use this switch to avoid building it.
135 By default the program used to dump and analyze raw libpcap data
136 is built. Use this switch to avoid building it.
139 If 'configure' finds support for IPv6 name resolution on
140 your system, the packet analyzers will make use of it.
141 To avoid using IPv6 name resolution if you have the support for it,
144 --enable-setuid-install
145 Wireshark and TShark rely on dumpcap for packet capture. Setting this
146 flag installs dumpcap with setuid root permissions, which lets any user
147 on the system capture live traffic. If this is not desired, you can
148 restrict dumpcap's permissions so that only a single user or group can
149 run it. This can be used in conjunction with --with-libcap described
152 Running Wireshark or TShark as root is not recommended.
155 By default, if 'configure' finds libcap (the POSIX capabilities
156 library) dumpcap will be built so that if it is installed setuid
157 root, it will attempt to retain CAP_NET_RAW and CAP_NET_ADMIN
158 before dropping root privileges. Use this option to disable this
162 Use this option to tell 'configure' where libcap is installed,
163 if it is installed in a non-standard location. Note that libcap
164 (the POSIX capabilities library, sans "p") and libpcap (the
165 packet capture library, avec "p") are two very different things.
168 If you choose to build a packet analyzer that can analyze
169 capture files but cannot capture packets on its own, but you
170 *do* have libpcap installed, or if you are trying to build
171 Wireshark on a system that doesn't have libpcap installed (in
172 which case you have no choice but to build a version that can
173 analyze capture files but cannot capture packets on its own),
174 use --without-pcap to avoid using libpcap.
177 Use this to tell Wireshark where you have libpcap installed, if
178 it is installed in a non-standard location.
181 By default, if 'configure' finds zlib (a.k.a, libz), the
182 wiretap library will be built so that it can read compressed
183 capture files. If you have zlib but do not wish to build
184 it into the wiretap library, used by Wireshark, TShark, and
185 the capture-file utilities that come in this package, use
189 Use this to tell Wireshark where you have zlib installed, if it
190 is installed in a non-standard location.
193 By default, if your system can support run-time loadable modules,
194 the packet analyzers are build with support for plugins.
195 Use this switch to build packet analyzers without plugin support.
198 By default, plugins are installed in
199 ${LIBDIR}/wireshark/plugins/${VERSION}
201 ${LIBDIR} can be set with --libdir, or defaults to ${EPREFIX/lib}
202 ${EPREFIX} can be set with --exec-prefix, or defaults to ${PREFIX}
203 ${VERSION} is the Wireshark version.
205 Use this switch to change the location where plugins
208 6. After running './configure', you will see a summary of some
209 of the options you chose. Ensure that the summary reflects
210 what you want. If it doesn't, re-run './configure' with new options.
212 7. Run 'make'. Hopefully, you won't run into any problems.
214 8. Run './wireshark' or './tshark' or ./dumpcap, and make sure things are
215 working. You must have root privileges in order to capture live data.
217 9. Run 'make install'. If you're running a system that supports
218 the Apt, RPM, OSX, or System V Release 4 packaging systems, you can
221 make debian-package # Builds a binary package using dpkg
222 make rpm-package # Builds a binary package using rpm
223 make srpm-package # Builds a source package using rpm
224 make svr4-package # Builds a binary package using pkgmk
225 make solaris-package # Same as "make svr4-package"
226 make osx-package # Builds a binary package for OSX
228 to make an installable package for your system.
230 If you have trouble with the build or installation process, you can
231 find assistance on the wireshark-users and wireshark-dev mailing lists.
232 See http://www.wireshark.org/lists/ for details.