Wireshark · Wireshark-dev: [Wireshark-dev] Remote Control Plugin - Can I submit to the Wireshark project

[Paul Offord <Paul.Offord@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

 

Some time ago I wrote a Wireshark plugin (called Syncro) that enables a program to send commands to Wireshark.  The command set is based on the capabilities provided by the Wireshark Plugin IF API (go to frame, apply filter, etc.).

 

The commands are sent to Wireshark via a TCP connection, and so there is a small TCP service running on a separate thread in Wireshark.  The TCP service, multi-threading and thread-to-thread communications are built on Qt.  Note the email trail below, where Roland suggests that it might not be necessary to use Qt.

 

I’d like to submit this to the Wireshark project as I think it could form the basis for a general capability of controlling Wireshark from a loosely coupled application.  Is this code suitable for submission to the project?

 

Thanks and regards…Paul

 

From: wireshark-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wireshark-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roland Knall
Sent: 05 August 2016 11:57
To: Developer support list for Wireshark <wireshark-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Wireshark-dev] Adding Qt5 libs via VS Additional Dependencies

 

This is exactly what I do here with my plugin. Although without the TCP part. The method to do it without using Qt in the dissector is to implement a tap interface in the dissector, and register the plugin on that interface. The plugin than can start the TCP server and monitors the tap interface and reacts accordingly to the commands. Would work fine for you, the same way you do it now, but would be far easier to maintain. The dissector would be stable and does never need to change, and all you would have to recompile is the plugin.

 

regards

Roland

 

On Fri, Aug 5, 2016 at 12:46 PM, Paul Offord <Paul.Offord@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Roland,

No, not really an RPC interface.  Some very simple commands and events flow back and forth, like this:

Command|GoToFrame|55

Response|MovedToFrame|55

Event|MovedToFrame|67

We needed it to be a dissector to enable us to detect when the user moves within a trace so that we can generate a suitable asynchronous event.  We also needed the functionality now, and it had to work with standard WS releases, so it had to be a plugin of some sort.  By the way, we are not planning to submit this to be incorporated into the main stream code.

You can see Syncro in action here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anEZGfF4P10&t=5m5s if you are interested.

Best regards…Paul

 

From: wireshark-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wireshark-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roland Knall
Sent: 05 August 2016 11:10

To: Developer support list for Wireshark <wireshark-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Wireshark-dev] Adding Qt5 libs via VS Additional Dependencies

So, if I understand it correctly, it is a RPC interface? I still think, implementing this as a dissector is a major overkill, and will also lead to issues further down the line, if dissectory API changes or similar issues. I'd implement such an interface via a simple plugin architecture, which would have the added benefit, that you do not have the need for an active dissection runnning, to query the instance. A dissection should be mainly about "How to interpret packet data", which is not the case here.

regards

Roland

 

On Fri, Aug 5, 2016 at 11:33 AM, Paul Offord <Paul.Offord@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Roland,

The dissector is called Syncro and it allows a remote process to access the WS plugin_if extensions through a TCP connection.  We wanted to be able to achieve this without building a custom version of WS and so built it as a dissector.  We don’t use any of the GUI stuff from Qt, just the TCP server functionality, multi-threading functions and Signals & Slots to communicate between threads.

Best regards…Paul

 

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