pcap-savefile.manfile 5.1 KB

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  20. .TH PCAP-SAVEFILE 5 "8 March 2015"
  21. .SH NAME
  22. pcap-savefile \- libpcap savefile format
  23. .SH DESCRIPTION
  24. NOTE: applications and libraries should, if possible, use libpcap to
  25. read savefiles, rather than having their own code to read savefiles.
  26. If, in the future, a new file format is supported by libpcap,
  27. applications and libraries using libpcap to read savefiles will be able
  28. to read the new format of savefiles, but applications and libraries
  29. using their own code to read savefiles will have to be changed to
  30. support the new file format.
  31. .PP
  32. ``Savefiles'' read and written by libpcap and applications using libpcap
  33. start with a per-file header. The format of the per-file header is:
  34. .RS
  35. .TS
  36. box;
  37. c s
  38. c | c
  39. c s.
  40. Magic number
  41. _
  42. Major version Minor version
  43. _
  44. Time zone offset
  45. _
  46. Time stamp accuracy
  47. _
  48. Snapshot length
  49. _
  50. Link-layer header type
  51. .TE
  52. .RE
  53. .PP
  54. All fields in the per-file header are in the byte order of the host
  55. writing the file. Normally, the first field in the per-file header is a
  56. 4-byte magic number, with the value 0xa1b2c3d4. The magic number, when
  57. read by a host with the same byte order as the host that wrote the file,
  58. will have the value 0xa1b2c3d4, and, when read by a host with the
  59. opposite byte order as the host that wrote the file, will have the value
  60. 0xd4c3b2a1. That allows software reading the file to determine whether
  61. the byte order of the host that wrote the file is the same as the byte
  62. order of the host on which the file is being read, and thus whether the
  63. values in the per-file and per-packet headers need to be byte-swapped.
  64. .PP
  65. If the magic number has the value 0xa1b23c4d (with the two nibbles of
  66. the two lower-order bytes of the magic number swapped), which would be
  67. read as 0xa1b23c4d by a host with the same byte order as the host that
  68. wrote the file and as 0x4d3cb2a1 by a host with the opposite byte order
  69. as the host that wrote the file, the file format is the same as for
  70. regular files, except that the time stamps for packets are given in
  71. seconds and nanoseconds rather than seconds and microseconds.
  72. .PP
  73. Following this are:
  74. .IP
  75. A 2-byte file format major version number; the current version number is
  76. 2.
  77. .IP
  78. A 2-byte file format minor version number; the current version number is
  79. 4.
  80. .IP
  81. A 4-byte time zone offset; this is always 0.
  82. .IP
  83. A 4-byte number giving the accuracy of time stamps in the file; this is
  84. always 0.
  85. .IP
  86. A 4-byte number giving the "snapshot length" of the capture; packets
  87. longer than the snapshot length are truncated to the snapshot length, so
  88. that, if the snapshot length is
  89. .IR N ,
  90. only the first
  91. .I N
  92. bytes of a packet longer than
  93. .I N
  94. bytes will be saved in the capture.
  95. .IP
  96. a 4-byte number giving the link-layer header type for packets in the
  97. capture; see
  98. .BR pcap-linktype (7)
  99. for the
  100. .B LINKTYPE_
  101. values that can appear in this field.
  102. .PP
  103. Following the per-file header are zero or more packets; each packet
  104. begins with a per-packet header, which is immediately followed by the
  105. raw packet data. The format of the per-packet header is:
  106. .RS
  107. .TS
  108. box;
  109. c.
  110. Time stamp, seconds value
  111. _
  112. Time stamp, microseconds or nanoseconds value
  113. _
  114. Length of captured packet data
  115. _
  116. Un-truncated length of the packet data
  117. .TE
  118. .RE
  119. .PP
  120. All fields in the per-packet header are in the byte order of the host
  121. writing the file. The per-packet header begins with a time stamp giving
  122. the approximate time the packet was captured; the time stamp consists of
  123. a 4-byte value, giving the time in seconds since January 1, 1970,
  124. 00:00:00 UTC, followed by a 4-byte value, giving the time in
  125. microseconds or nanoseconds since that second, depending on the magic
  126. number in the file header. Following that are a 4-byte value giving the
  127. number of bytes of captured data that follow the per-packet header and a
  128. 4-byte value giving the number of bytes that would have been present had
  129. the packet not been truncated by the snapshot length. The two lengths
  130. will be equal if the number of bytes of packet data are less than or
  131. equal to the snapshot length.
  132. .SH SEE ALSO
  133. pcap(3PCAP), pcap-linktype(7)