Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Wouldn't it be cool if....
On Fri, Apr 19, 2002 at 07:48:34PM +0100, Alistair.McGlinchy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Is there any way to get this summary to file.
Not at present.
> Having run a whole load of
> traces for a project. I'd like to write a command like:
> for %1 in (*.trc) do tethereal -r %1 -summary > %1.txt
> And use the output as a starting point for a "readme"-like file about what
> went on the trace.
We'd also need to add something to Tethereal to generate that summary.
> >The start time isn't saved in all trace file formats
> You could guess this by taking the trace file's timestamp less trace
> duration. It's not reliable but it is better than nothing I suppose.
I'm not sure it's very much better than nothing - if, for example, you
save the capture ("File->Save As") on Windows, or save it to a different
file system on UNIX, the time stamp will be the time you save it, not
the time you stopped saving packets to it.
> >I don't know what "trace quality" means, so I don't know whether it'd
> >even be possible for Ethereal to provide it.
> Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant information such as,
> Does the entire file parse without error?
What do you mean by "parse without error"?
> >> 3) There was a portable default config file containing such options as.
> <snip>
> >There is. Ethereal reads, if present, a "preferences" file in the
> >"installation" directory (on Windows, it's the directory the Ethereal
> >binary is in; on UNIX, it's the directory the package was configured to
> >be installed in), just as it reads a "preferences" file in the
> >appropriate directory for personal preferences.
>
> Aha! Found it. On my NT4 box it's in
> C:\WINNT\Profiles\<user id>\Application Data\Ethereal\preferences
No, it's not.
On your box, in your account,
C:\WINNT\Profiles\<user id>\Application Data\Ethereal
is "the appropriate directory for personal preferences", so that's your
*personal* preference file, not the *global* preference file.
If you do "Save" from the "Preferences" dialog, Ethereal writes out the
preferences to your *personal* preferences file; that's probably why
that file exists.
If Ethereal is installed on your machine under
C:\Program Files\Ethereal
the *global* preferences file would probably be
C:\Program Files\Ethereal\preferences
the fact that it probably doesn't exist on your machine nonwithstanding.
If the doesn't exist, Ethereal and Tethereal obviously don't read it, so
the default preferences are the ones built into Ethereal/Tethereal.
If the file *does* exist, Ethereal and Tethereal read it, and settings
in that file override the built-in defaults.
> Thanks. Having now found this gem; would there be any way to use a different
> preferences file from the default, or to temporarily override any settings?
Ethereal an Tethereal read the default preferences file first, if
present, overriding built-in settings (if no item is present in the
default preferences file for a preference, the built-in setting is
kept); it then reads the user's preferences file, if present, overriding
settings from that.
Note that the "Save" button in the "Preferences" dialog writes out *ALL*
preferences, so if you put a default preferences file into the directory
in which Ethereal is installed, that won't affect the settings of
anybody who already has a preferences file as written out by Ethereal.
It *will* affect users who don't already have a preferences file.
Similarly, changing the default preferences file won't affect users who
have a preferences file; it'll affect only users who don't.
