Hi,
You still need to compile the shared library/DLL. Under Windows this
requires you to have MS VC++. Not many network administrators are likely to
have this.
Regards,
Chris.
----- Original Message -----
From: "jharris" <jharris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Chris Waters" <chris.waters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <ethereal-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Easier dissector building
> You dont need to recompile ethereal. If you compiled the new C code as a
> shared object and then load and initalize it at runtime, you could leave
> ethereal alone. As the disectors already dynamically register themselfs
> at run time this would be rather easy. The trick as with all dynamic
> loadables is keeping the versions straight.. and the apis consistent.
>
>
> On Wed, 18 Dec 2002, Chris Waters wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Rather than building a translator like idl2eth which will create C code,
how
> > about a runtime/end-user method of adding dissectors. The problem with
any
> > scheme that generates C code is that you still need to compile Ethereal
to
> > use your new dissector. Unfortunately compiling Ethereal is not trivial
on
> > some platforms (e.g. Windows) and anyone who can get it to compile
probably
> > could have written their dissector directly in C anyway.
> >
> > Both Analyzer and Airopeek have a meta-language which is used to
describe
> > protocols and users can add their own protocols simply by providing
files in
> > this format. I have some colleagues who would have no idea how to
compile
> > Analyzer, but they have managed to add dissectors for the Bluetooth
protocol
> > suite using the built in protocol-description-language.
> >
> > The drawback of a non-compiled solution is speed, but personally I would
> > give up some speed for the advantage of being able to quickly add a
> > dissector for a new protocol.
> >
> > My preference would be to use a scripting language, such as lua
> > (www.lua.org), to describe the protocols. It is well suited to
describing
> > data structures, such as simple arrays of fields, but because it is a
> > scripting language you can write as much or as little code as you like
to
> > handle complicated protocols.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Chris.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <andreas.sikkema@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: "Jason House" <jhouse@xxxxxxxxx>
> > Cc: <ethereal-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Ph. Marek" <philipp.marek@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:27 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Easier dissector building
> >
> >
> > > > It's definitely do-able to have an automated tool to write
dissectors
> > > > for you.
> > >
> > > Exactly. I have adapted an ASN.1 compiler to generate code that
> > > can be used for an Ethereal dissector. It took me a couple of
> > > months of hard work, but you can do it ;-)
> > >
> > > And then it still needs some manual work....
> > >
> > > --
> > > Andreas
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Ethereal-dev mailing list
> > > Ethereal-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > http://www.ethereal.com/mailman/listinfo/ethereal-dev
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ethereal-dev mailing list
> > Ethereal-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > http://www.ethereal.com/mailman/listinfo/ethereal-dev
> >
>
> -- James Harris
>
>
