Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Building a dummy libpcap file with tethereal

Note: This archive is from the project's previous web site, ethereal.com. This list is no longer active.

From: Guy Harris <gharris@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 01:02:26 -0700
Luis Monge wrote:
Is it possible to create a dummy libpcap file with tethereal?
I read the manual and I haven't found anything like that,
"Create a file with no packets" is a sufficiently uncommon operation 
that we haven't gone through the effort of adding a feature to do that, 
which is why you didn't find it in the manual. :-)
You could try doing a live capture with a capture filter unlikely to 
match any packets, such as "ip proto 666", and interrupt that capture - 
if it captures no packets, you'll get a capture file with no packets.
Why do you need this file?  There might be a way to get what you need 
without such a file.