Provided by: libpcap0.8-dev_1.10.4-4.1ubuntu3_amd64 bug

NAME

       pcap - Packet Capture library

SYNOPSIS

       #include <pcap/pcap.h>

DESCRIPTION

       The  Packet Capture library provides a high level interface to packet capture systems. All packets on the
       network, even those destined for other hosts, are accessible through this mechanism.   It  also  supports
       saving captured packets to a ``savefile'', and reading packets from a ``savefile''.

   Initializing
       pcap_init() initializes the library.  It takes an argument giving options; currently, the options are:

       PCAP_CHAR_ENC_LOCAL
              Treat  all  strings  supplied  as arguments, and return all strings to the caller, as being in the
              local character encoding.

       PCAP_CHAR_ENC_UTF_8
              Treat all strings supplied as arguments, and return all strings to the caller, as being in UTF-8.

       On UNIX-like systems, the local character encoding is assumed to  be  UTF-8,  so  no  character  encoding
       transformations are done.

       On Windows, the local character encoding is the local ANSI code page.

       If pcap_init() is called, the deprecated pcap_lookupdev() routine always fails, so it should not be used,
       and, on Windows, pcap_create() does not attempt to handle UTF-16LE strings.

       If pcap_init() is not called, strings are treated as being in  the  local  ANSI  code  page  on  Windows,
       pcap_lookupdev()  will  succeed  if  there  is  a  device on which to capture, and pcap_create() makes an
       attempt to check whether the string passed as an argument is a UTF-16LE string - note that  this  attempt
       is  unsafe,  as  it  may run past the end of the string - to handle pcap_lookupdev() returning a UTF-16LE
       string. Programs that don't call pcap_init() should, on  Windows,  call  pcap_wsockinit()  to  initialize
       Winsock; this is not necessary if pcap_init() is called, as pcap_init() will initialize Winsock itself on
       Windows.

       Routines

              pcap_init(3PCAP)
                     initialize the library

   Opening a capture handle for reading
       To open a handle for a live capture, given the name of the  network  or  other  interface  on  which  the
       capture  should be done, call pcap_create(), set the appropriate options on the handle, and then activate
       it with pcap_activate().  If pcap_activate() fails, the handle should be closed with pcap_close().

       To obtain a list of devices that can be opened for a live capture, call pcap_findalldevs(); to  free  the
       list  returned  by  pcap_findalldevs(),  call pcap_freealldevs().  pcap_lookupdev() will return the first
       device on that list that is not a ``loopback`` network interface.

       To open a handle for a ``savefile'' from which to read packets, given the pathname of  the  ``savefile'',
       call  pcap_open_offline();  to  set  up  a  handle for a ``savefile'', given a FILE * referring to a file
       already opened for reading, call pcap_fopen_offline().

       In order to get a ``fake'' pcap_t for use in routines that require a  pcap_t  as  an  argument,  such  as
       routines to open a ``savefile'' for writing and to compile a filter expression, call pcap_open_dead().

       pcap_create(),  pcap_open_offline(),  pcap_fopen_offline(),  and  pcap_open_dead()  return a pointer to a
       pcap_t, which is the handle used for reading packets from the capture stream or the ``savefile'', and for
       finding out information about the capture stream or ``savefile''.  To close a handle, use pcap_close().

       The options that can be set on a capture handle include

       snapshot length
              If,  when capturing, you capture the entire contents of the packet, that requires more CPU time to
              copy the packet to your application, more disk and possibly network bandwidth to write the  packet
              data  to a file, and more disk space to save the packet.  If you don't need the entire contents of
              the packet - for example, if you are only interested in the TCP headers of packets - you  can  set
              the  "snapshot  length" for the capture to an appropriate value.  If the snapshot length is set to
              snaplen, and snaplen is less than the size of a packet that is captured, only  the  first  snaplen
              bytes of that packet will be captured and provided as packet data.

              A  snapshot  length of 65535 should be sufficient, on most if not all networks, to capture all the
              data available from the packet.

              The snapshot length is set with pcap_set_snaplen().

       promiscuous mode
              On broadcast LANs such as Ethernet, if the network isn't switched, or if the adapter is  connected
              to a "mirror port" on a switch to which all packets passing through the switch are sent, a network
              adapter receives all packets on the LAN, including unicast or multicast  packets  not  sent  to  a
              network address that the network adapter isn't configured to recognize.

              Normally,  the  adapter  will  discard  those  packets;  however,  many  network  adapters support
              "promiscuous mode", which is a mode in which all packets, even if they are not sent to an  address
              that  the  adapter  recognizes,  are provided to the host.  This is useful for passively capturing
              traffic between two or more other hosts for analysis.

              Note that even if an application does not set promiscuous mode,  the  adapter  could  well  be  in
              promiscuous mode for some other reason.

              For  now,  this doesn't work on the "any" device; if an argument of "any" or NULL is supplied, the
              setting of promiscuous mode is ignored.

              Promiscuous mode is set with pcap_set_promisc().

       monitor mode
              On IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs, even if an adapter is in promiscuous mode, it  will  supply  to  the
              host  only  frames  for  the  network  with which it's associated.  It might also supply only data
              frames, not management or control frames, and  might  not  provide  the  802.11  header  or  radio
              information pseudo-header for those frames.

              In "monitor mode", sometimes also called "rfmon mode" (for "Radio Frequency MONitor"), the adapter
              will supply all frames that it receives, with 802.11 headers, and  might  supply  a  pseudo-header
              with radio information about the frame as well.

              Note  that  in  monitor  mode  the  adapter  might  disassociate  from the network with which it's
              associated, so that you will not be able to use any wireless networks  with  that  adapter.   This
              could  prevent  accessing files on a network server, or resolving host names or network addresses,
              if you are capturing in monitor mode and  are  not  connected  to  another  network  with  another
              adapter.

              Monitor  mode  is  set  with  pcap_set_rfmon(),  and pcap_can_set_rfmon() can be used to determine
              whether an adapter can be put into monitor mode.

       packet buffer timeout
              If, when capturing, packets are delivered as soon as they arrive, the  application  capturing  the
              packets  will  be woken up for each packet as it arrives, and might have to make one or more calls
              to the operating system to fetch each packet.

              If, instead, packets are not delivered as soon as they arrive, but are  delivered  after  a  short
              delay  (called  a  "packet  buffer  timeout"),  more than one packet can be accumulated before the
              packets are delivered, so that a single wakeup would be done for multiple packets, and each set of
              calls  made  to  the  operating system would supply multiple packets, rather than a single packet.
              This reduces the per-packet CPU overhead if packets are arriving at a high  rate,  increasing  the
              number of packets per second that can be captured.

              The packet buffer timeout is required so that an application won't wait for the operating system's
              capture buffer to fill up before packets are delivered; if packets are arriving slowly, that  wait
              could take an arbitrarily long period of time.

              Not  all  platforms  support  a  packet buffer timeout; on platforms that don't, the packet buffer
              timeout is ignored.  A zero value for the timeout, on  platforms  that  support  a  packet  buffer
              timeout,  will cause a read to wait forever to allow enough packets to arrive, with no timeout.  A
              negative value is invalid; the result of setting the timeout to a negative value is unpredictable.

              NOTE: the packet buffer timeout cannot be used to cause calls that read packets to return within a
              limited  period  of  time,  because, on some platforms, the packet buffer timeout isn't supported,
              and, on other platforms, the timer doesn't start until at least one packet  arrives.   This  means
              that  the  packet buffer timeout should NOT be used, for example, in an interactive application to
              allow the packet capture loop to ``poll'' for user input periodically,  as  there's  no  guarantee
              that a call reading packets will return after the timeout expires even if no packets have arrived.

              The packet buffer timeout is set with pcap_set_timeout().

       immediate mode
              In  immediate  mode,  packets  are  always  delivered  as  soon as they arrive, with no buffering.
              Immediate mode is set with pcap_set_immediate_mode().

       buffer size
              Packets that arrive for a capture are stored in a buffer, so that they do not have to be  read  by
              the  application  as soon as they arrive.  On some platforms, the buffer's size can be set; a size
              that's too small could mean that, if too many packets are being captured and the  snapshot  length
              doesn't  limit the amount of data that's buffered, packets could be dropped if the buffer fills up
              before the application can read packets from it, while a size that's too large could use more non-
              pageable operating system memory than is necessary to prevent packets from being dropped.

              The buffer size is set with pcap_set_buffer_size().

       timestamp type
              On  some  platforms,  the  time  stamp  given  to packets on live captures can come from different
              sources that can have different resolutions or that can have different relationships to  the  time
              values  for  the  current  time  supplied  by  routines  on  the  native  operating  system.   See
              pcap-tstamp(7) for a list of time stamp types.

              The time stamp type is set with pcap_set_tstamp_type().

       Reading packets from a network interface may require that you have special privileges:

       Under SunOS 3.x or 4.x with NIT or BPF:
              You must have read access to /dev/nit or /dev/bpf*.

       Under Solaris with DLPI:
              You must have read/write access to the network pseudo device, e.g.  /dev/le.   On  at  least  some
              versions  of  Solaris,  however, this is not sufficient to allow tcpdump to capture in promiscuous
              mode; on those versions of Solaris, you must be root, or the application capturing packets must be
              installed  setuid  to  root, in order to capture in promiscuous mode.  Note that, on many (perhaps
              all) interfaces, if you don't capture in promiscuous mode, you will not see any outgoing  packets,
              so a capture not done in promiscuous mode may not be very useful.

              In  newer  versions of Solaris, you must have been given the net_rawaccess privilege; this is both
              necessary and sufficient to give you access to the network pseudo-device - there  is  no  need  to
              change  the privileges on that device.  A user can be given that privilege by, for example, adding
              that privilege to the user's defaultpriv key with the usermod(8) command.

       Under HP-UX with DLPI:
              You must be root or the application capturing packets must be installed setuid to root.

       Under IRIX with snoop:
              You must be root or the application capturing packets must be installed setuid to root.

       Under Linux:
              You must be root or the application capturing packets must be installed  setuid  to  root,  unless
              your distribution has a kernel that supports capability bits such as CAP_NET_RAW and code to allow
              those capability bits to be given to particular accounts and to cause those bits to be  set  on  a
              user's  initial  processes  when  they log in, in which case you must have CAP_NET_RAW in order to
              capture.

       Under ULTRIX and Digital UNIX/Tru64 UNIX:
              Any user may capture network traffic.  However, no user (not even the super-user) can  capture  in
              promiscuous  mode  on an interface unless the super-user has enabled promiscuous-mode operation on
              that interface using pfconfig(8), and no user  (not  even  the  super-user)  can  capture  unicast
              traffic received by or sent by the machine on an interface unless the super-user has enabled copy-
              all-mode operation on that interface using pfconfig, so useful  packet  capture  on  an  interface
              probably  requires  that  either  promiscuous-mode  or  copy-all-mode  operation, or both modes of
              operation, be enabled on that interface.

       Under BSD (this includes macOS):
              You must have read access to /dev/bpf* on systems that don't have a  cloning  BPF  device,  or  to
              /dev/bpf  on systems that do.  On BSDs with a devfs (this includes macOS), this might involve more
              than just having somebody with super-user access setting the ownership or permissions on  the  BPF
              devices  -  it  might involve configuring devfs to set the ownership or permissions every time the
              system is booted, if the system even supports that; if it doesn't support that, you might have  to
              find some other way to make that happen at boot time.

       Reading a saved packet file doesn't require special privileges.

       The packets read from the handle may include a ``pseudo-header'' containing various forms of packet meta-
       data, and probably includes  a  link-layer  header  whose  contents  can  differ  for  different  network
       interfaces.   To  determine  the  format  of  the  packets  supplied by the handle, call pcap_datalink();
       https://www.tcpdump.org/linktypes.html lists the values it returns and describes the packet formats  that
       correspond to those values.

       Do  NOT assume that the packets for a given capture or ``savefile`` will have any given link-layer header
       type, such as DLT_EN10MB for Ethernet.  For example, the "any" device on Linux  will  have  a  link-layer
       header  type  of  DLT_LINUX_SLL or DLT_LINUX_SLL2 even if all devices on the system at the time the "any"
       device is opened have some other data link type, such as DLT_EN10MB for Ethernet.

       To obtain the FILE * corresponding to a pcap_t opened for a ``savefile'', call pcap_file().

       Routines

              pcap_create(3PCAP)
                     get a pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_activate(3PCAP)
                     activate a pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_findalldevs(3PCAP)
                     get a list of devices that can be opened for a live capture

              pcap_freealldevs(3PCAP)
                     free list of devices

              pcap_lookupdev(3PCAP)
                     get first non-loopback device on that list

              pcap_open_offline(3PCAP)
                     open a pcap_t for a ``savefile'', given a pathname

              pcap_open_offline_with_tstamp_precision(3PCAP)
                     open a pcap_t for a ``savefile'', given a pathname, and specify the  precision  to  provide
                     for packet time stamps

              pcap_fopen_offline(3PCAP)
                     open a pcap_t for a ``savefile'', given a FILE *

              pcap_fopen_offline_with_tstamp_precision(3PCAP)
                     open  a pcap_t for a ``savefile'', given a FILE *, and specify the precision to provide for
                     packet time stamps

              pcap_open_dead(3PCAP)
                     create a ``fake'' pcap_t

              pcap_close(3PCAP)
                     close a pcap_t

              pcap_set_snaplen(3PCAP)
                     set the snapshot length for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_snapshot(3PCAP)
                     get the snapshot length for a pcap_t

              pcap_set_promisc(3PCAP)
                     set promiscuous mode for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_set_protocol_linux(3PCAP)
                     set capture protocol for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture (Linux only)

              pcap_set_rfmon(3PCAP)
                     set monitor mode for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_can_set_rfmon(3PCAP)
                     determine whether monitor mode can be set for a pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_set_timeout(3PCAP)
                     set packet buffer timeout for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_set_immediate_mode(3PCAP)
                     set immediate mode for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_set_buffer_size(3PCAP)
                     set buffer size for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_set_tstamp_type(3PCAP)
                     set time stamp type for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_list_tstamp_types(3PCAP)
                     get list of available time stamp types for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_free_tstamp_types(3PCAP)
                     free list of available time stamp types

              pcap_tstamp_type_val_to_name(3PCAP)
                     get name for a time stamp type

              pcap_tstamp_type_val_to_description(3PCAP)
                     get description for a time stamp type

              pcap_tstamp_type_name_to_val(3PCAP)
                     get time stamp type corresponding to a name

              pcap_set_tstamp_precision(3PCAP)
                     set time stamp precision for a not-yet-activated pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_get_tstamp_precision(3PCAP)
                     get the time stamp precision of a pcap_t for live capture

              pcap_datalink(3PCAP)
                     get link-layer header type for a pcap_t

              pcap_file(3PCAP)
                     get the FILE * for a pcap_t opened for a ``savefile''

              pcap_is_swapped(3PCAP)
                     determine whether a ``savefile'' being read came from a  machine  with  the  opposite  byte
                     order

              pcap_major_version(3PCAP)
              pcap_minor_version(3PCAP)
                     get the major and minor version of the file format version for a ``savefile''

   Selecting a link-layer header type for a live capture
       Some devices may provide more than one link-layer header type.  To obtain a list of all link-layer header
       types provided by a device, call pcap_list_datalinks() on an activated pcap_t for the device.  To free  a
       list  of  link-layer  header  types, call pcap_free_datalinks().  To set the link-layer header type for a
       device, call pcap_set_datalink().  This should be done after the device has been activated but before any
       packets are read and before any filters are compiled or installed.

       Routines

              pcap_list_datalinks(3PCAP)
                     get a list of link-layer header types for a device

              pcap_free_datalinks(3PCAP)
                     free list of link-layer header types

              pcap_set_datalink(3PCAP)
                     set link-layer header type for a device

              pcap_datalink_val_to_name(3PCAP)
                     get name for a link-layer header type

              pcap_datalink_val_to_description(3PCAP)
              pcap_datalink_val_to_description_or_dlt(3PCAP)
                     get description for a link-layer header type

              pcap_datalink_name_to_val(3PCAP)
                     get link-layer header type corresponding to a name

   Reading packets
       Packets  are  read  with  pcap_dispatch()  or  pcap_loop(),  which process one or more packets, calling a
       callback routine for each packet, or with pcap_next() or pcap_next_ex(), which return  the  next  packet.
       The  callback  for  pcap_dispatch()  and pcap_loop() is supplied a pointer to a struct pcap_pkthdr, which
       includes the following members:

              ts     a struct timeval containing the time when the packet was captured

              caplen a bpf_u_int32 giving the number of bytes of the packet that are available from the capture

              len    a bpf_u_int32 giving the length of the packet, in bytes  (which  might  be  more  than  the
                     number  of bytes available from the capture, if the length of the packet is larger than the
                     maximum number of bytes to capture).

       The callback is also supplied a const u_char pointer  to  the  first  caplen  (as  given  in  the  struct
       pcap_pkthdr mentioned above) bytes of data from the packet.  This won't necessarily be the entire packet;
       to capture the  entire  packet,  you  will  have  to  provide  a  value  for  snaplen  in  your  call  to
       pcap_set_snaplen()  that  is sufficiently large to get all of the packet's data - a value of 65535 should
       be sufficient on most if not all networks).  When  reading  from  a  ``savefile'',  the  snapshot  length
       specified when the capture was performed will limit the amount of packet data available.

       pcap_next() is passed an argument that points to a struct pcap_pkthdr structure, and fills it in with the
       time stamp and length values for the packet.  It returns a const u_char to the first caplen bytes of  the
       packet on success, and NULL on error.

       pcap_next_ex()  is  passed  two pointer arguments, one of which points to a structpcap_pkthdr* and one of
       which points to a const u_char*.  It sets the first pointer to point to a  struct  pcap_pkthdr  structure
       with  the  time stamp and length values for the packet, and sets the second pointer to point to the first
       caplen bytes of the packet.

       To force the loop in pcap_dispatch() or pcap_loop() to terminate, call pcap_breakloop().

       By default, when  reading  packets  from  an  interface  opened  for  a  live  capture,  pcap_dispatch(),
       pcap_next(), and pcap_next_ex() will, if no packets are currently available to be read, block waiting for
       packets to become available.  On some, but not all, platforms, if a packet buffer timeout was  specified,
       the  wait  will  terminate  after  the packet buffer timeout expires; applications should be prepared for
       this, as it happens on some platforms, but should not rely  on  it,  as  it  does  not  happen  on  other
       platforms.   Note  that  the  wait  might,  or  might  not,  terminate  even if no packets are available;
       applications should be prepared for this to happen, but must not rely on it happening.

       A handle can be put into ``non-blocking mode'', so that those routines will, rather than blocking, return
       an  indication  that no packets are available to read.  Call pcap_setnonblock() to put a handle into non-
       blocking mode or to take it out of non-blocking mode; call  pcap_getnonblock()  to  determine  whether  a
       handle is in non-blocking mode.  Note that non-blocking mode does not work correctly in Mac OS X 10.6.

       Non-blocking  mode  is  often  combined  with  routines  such as select(2) or poll(2) or other routines a
       platform offers to wait for any of a set of descriptors to be ready to read.  To obtain, for a handle,  a
       descriptor  that  can be used in those routines, call pcap_get_selectable_fd().  If the routine indicates
       that data is available to read on the descriptor, an attempt should be made to read from the device.

       Not all handles have such a descriptor available; pcap_get_selectable_fd() will  return  -1  if  no  such
       descriptor  is  available.   If  no  such descriptor is available, this may be because the device must be
       polled periodically for packets; in that case, pcap_get_required_select_timeout() will return  a  pointer
       to a struct timeval whose value can be used as a timeout in those routines.  When the routine returns, an
       attempt should be made to read packets from the device.   If  pcap_get_required_select_timeout()  returns
       NULL, no such timeout is available, and those routines cannot be used with the device.

       In  addition,  for  various  reasons,  one  or  more  of  those  routines will not work properly with the
       descriptor; the documentation for pcap_get_selectable_fd() gives details.  Note that, just as an  attempt
       to  read  packets  from  a  pcap_t  may  not  return  any packets if the packet buffer timeout expires, a
       select(), poll(), or other such call  may,  if  the  packet  buffer  timeout  expires,  indicate  that  a
       descriptor is ready to read even if there are no packets available to read.

       Routines

              pcap_dispatch(3PCAP)
                     read  a  bufferful  of  packets  from  a  pcap_t open for a live capture or the full set of
                     packets from a pcap_t open for a ``savefile''

              pcap_loop(3PCAP)
                     read packets from a pcap_t until an interrupt or error occurs

              pcap_next(3PCAP)
                     read the next packet from a pcap_t without an indication whether an error occurred

              pcap_next_ex(3PCAP)
                     read the next packet from a pcap_t with an error indication on an error

              pcap_breakloop(3PCAP)
                     prematurely terminate the loop in pcap_dispatch() or pcap_loop()

              pcap_setnonblock(3PCAP)
                     set or clear non-blocking mode on a pcap_t

              pcap_getnonblock(3PCAP)
                     get the state of non-blocking mode for a pcap_t

              pcap_get_selectable_fd(3PCAP)
                     attempt to get a descriptor for a pcap_t that can be used in calls  such  as  select()  and
                     poll()

              pcap_get_required_select_timeout(3PCAP)
                     attempt to get a timeout required for using a pcap_t in calls such as select() and poll()

   Filters
       In  order  to  cause  only  certain packets to be returned when reading packets, a filter can be set on a
       handle.  For a live capture, the filtering will be performed  in  kernel  mode,  if  possible,  to  avoid
       copying ``uninteresting'' packets from the kernel to user mode.

       A  filter  can  be specified as a text string; the syntax and semantics of the string are as described by
       pcap-filter(7).   A  filter  string  is  compiled  into  a  program  in  a   pseudo-machine-language   by
       pcap_compile()  and  the  resulting program can be made a filter for a handle with pcap_setfilter().  The
       result of pcap_compile() can be freed with a call  to  pcap_freecode().   pcap_compile()  may  require  a
       network  mask  for  certain  expressions  in  the filter string; pcap_lookupnet() can be used to find the
       network address and network mask for a given capture device.

       A  compiled  filter  can  also  be  applied  directly  to   a   packet   that   has   been   read   using
       pcap_offline_filter().

       Routines

              pcap_compile(3PCAP)
                     compile filter expression to a pseudo-machine-language code program

              pcap_freecode(3PCAP)
                     free a filter program

              pcap_setfilter(3PCAP)
                     set filter for a pcap_t

              pcap_lookupnet(3PCAP)
                     get network address and network mask for a capture device

              pcap_offline_filter(3PCAP)
                     apply a filter program to a packet

   Incoming and outgoing packets
       By  default, libpcap will attempt to capture both packets sent by the machine and packets received by the
       machine.  To limit it to capturing only packets received by the machine or,  if  possible,  only  packets
       sent by the machine, call pcap_setdirection().

       Routines

              pcap_setdirection(3PCAP)
                     specify whether to capture incoming packets, outgoing packets, or both

   Capture statistics
       To get statistics about packets received and dropped in a live capture, call pcap_stats().

       Routines

              pcap_stats(3PCAP)
                     get capture statistics

   Opening a handle for writing captured packets
       To  open  a ``savefile`` to which to write packets, given the pathname the ``savefile'' should have, call
       pcap_dump_open().  To open a ``savefile`` to which to write packets, given the pathname the  ``savefile''
       should  have, call pcap_dump_open(); to set up a handle for a ``savefile'', given a FILE * referring to a
       file already opened for writing, call pcap_dump_fopen().  They each return pointers to  a  pcap_dumper_t,
       which  is  the handle used for writing packets to the ``savefile''.  If it succeeds, it will have created
       the file if it doesn't exist and truncated the file if it does exist.  To  close  a  pcap_dumper_t,  call
       pcap_dump_close().

       Routines

              pcap_dump_open(3PCAP)
                     open a pcap_dumper_t for a ``savefile``, given a pathname, replacing any existing data

              pcap_dump_open_append(3PCAP)
                     open a pcap_dumper_t for a ``savefile``, given a pathname, appending to the existing data

              pcap_dump_fopen(3PCAP)
                     open a pcap_dumper_t for a ``savefile``, given a FILE *, assuming an empty file

              pcap_dump_close(3PCAP)
                     close a pcap_dumper_t

              pcap_dump_file(3PCAP)
                     get the FILE * for a pcap_dumper_t opened for a ``savefile''

   Writing packets
       To  write  a  packet  to  a  pcap_dumper_t,  call  pcap_dump().   Packets written with pcap_dump() may be
       buffered, rather than being immediately written to the  ``savefile''.   Closing  the  pcap_dumper_t  will
       cause  all  buffered-but-not-yet-written packets to be written to the ``savefile''.  To force all packets
       written to the pcap_dumper_t, and not yet written to the ``savefile'' because  they're  buffered  by  the
       pcap_dumper_t,   to   be   written   to   the  ``savefile'',  without  closing  the  pcap_dumper_t,  call
       pcap_dump_flush().

       Routines

              pcap_dump(3PCAP)
                     write packet to a pcap_dumper_t

              pcap_dump_flush(3PCAP)
                     flush buffered packets written to a pcap_dumper_t to the ``savefile''

              pcap_dump_ftell(3PCAP)
                     get current file position for a pcap_dumper_t

   Injecting packets
       If you have the required privileges, you can inject packets onto a network  with  a  pcap_t  for  a  live
       capture,  using  pcap_inject() or pcap_sendpacket().  (The two routines exist for compatibility with both
       OpenBSD and WinPcap/Npcap; they perform the same function, but have different return values.)

       Routines

              pcap_inject(3PCAP)
              pcap_sendpacket(3PCAP)
                     transmit a packet

   Reporting errors
       Some routines return error or warning status codes; to convert them to a string, use pcap_statustostr().

       Routines

              pcap_statustostr(3PCAP)
                     get a string for an error or warning status code

   Getting library version information
       To get a string giving version information about libpcap, call pcap_lib_version().

       Routines

              pcap_lib_version(3PCAP)
                     get library version string

BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY

       In versions of libpcap prior to 1.0, the pcap.h  header  file  was  not  in  a  pcap  directory  on  most
       platforms;  if you are writing an application that must work on versions of libpcap prior to 1.0, include
       <pcap.h>, which will include <pcap/pcap.h> for you, rather than including <pcap/pcap.h>.

       pcap_create() and pcap_activate() were not available in versions of libpcap prior  to  1.0;  if  you  are
       writing an application that must work on versions of libpcap prior to 1.0, either use pcap_open_live() to
       get a handle for a live capture or, if you want to be able to use the additional capabilities offered  by
       using  pcap_create() and pcap_activate(), use an autoconf(1) script or some other configuration script to
       check whether the libpcap 1.0 APIs are available and use them only if they are.

SEE ALSO

       autoconf(1), tcpdump(8), tcpslice(1), pcap-filter(7), pfconfig(8), usermod(8)

AUTHORS

       The original authors of libpcap are:

       Van Jacobson, Craig Leres  and  Steven  McCanne,  all  of  the  Lawrence  Berkeley  National  Laboratory,
       University of California, Berkeley, CA.

       The current version is available from "The Tcpdump Group"'s Web site at

              https://www.tcpdump.org/

BUGS

       To report a security issue please send an e-mail to security@tcpdump.org.

       To  report  bugs  and other problems, contribute patches, request a feature, provide generic feedback etc
       please see the file CONTRIBUTING.md in the libpcap source tree root.

                                                9 September 2020                                     PCAP(3PCAP)