How to build tshark as a shared library, like libtshark.so?

After weeks of torture, I've made libtshark.so for my tool and they work well together. Here I share the process for people wanting tshark library.

summary

 1. this is based on wireshark-1.7 source code
 2. I used autotools system(automake, autoconf...)
 3. I did it by making necessary changes in existing wireshark source autotool files.
 4. there are still some redundancy functionality that could be excluded from the build. I just made it with the minimum modifications.

details

tshark.c

1.modify: main() => tshark()

./Makefile.am

1.add "lib_LTLIBRARIES = libtshark.la"
2.remove "@[email protected]" from bin_PROGRAMS
3.remove "tshark" from EXTRA_PROGRAMS
4.modify wireshark_LDADDui/gtk/libgtkui.a => ui/gtk/libgtkui.la
ui/gtk/libgtkui_dirty.a => ui/gtk/libgtkui_dirty.la
ui/libui.a => ui/libui.la

5.modify "if ENABLE_STATIC" macro

after:
if ENABLE_STATIC
libtshark_LDFLAGS = -Wl, -static -all-static
else
libtshark_LDFLAGS = -export-dynamic
endif

6.add libtshark.a and libtshark.la to CLEANFILES 7.add libtshark_la_LIBADD like this

libtshark_la_LIBADD =   \
    ui/libui.la         \
    ui/cli/libcliui.la          \
    ui/gtk/libgtkui.la          \
    wiretap/libwiretap.la       \
    epan/libwireshark.la        \
    wsutil/libwsutil.la     \
    @[email protected]          \
    $(plugin_ldadd)         \
    @[email protected] -lm         \
    @[email protected]         \
    @[email protected]           \
    @[email protected]          \
    @[email protected]           \
    @[email protected]         \
    @[email protected]         \
    @[email protected]   \
    @[email protected]           \
    @[email protected]        \
    @[email protected]        \
    @[email protected]        \

./Makefile.common

1.add libtshark_la_SOURCES like thislibtshark_la_SOURCES =  \
    $(WIRESHARK_COMMON_SRC) \
    $(SHARK_COMMON_CAPTURE_SRC) \
    airpcap_loader.c \
    capture_info.c  \
    color_filters.c \
    fileset.c   \
    filters.c   \
    g711.c \
    merge.c \
    proto_hier_stats.c  \
    recent.c    \
    summary.c   \
    u3.c        \
    capture_opts.c      \
    tempfile.c      \
    tshark.c

./ui/Makefile.am

1.modify: noinst_LIBRARIES = libui.a => lib_LTLIBRARIES = libui.la
2.add libui.la to CLEANFILES
3.modify: libui_a_SOURCES => libui_la_SOURCES
4.modify: libui_a_CFLAGS => libui_la_CFLAGS
5.modify: libui_a_DEPENDENCIES => libui_la_DEPENDENCIES

./ui/cli/Makefile.am

1.modify: noinst_LIBRARIES = libcliui.a => lib_LTLIBRARIES = libcliui.la
2.add libcliui.la to CLEANFILES
3.modify: libcliui_a_SOURCES => libcliui_la_SOURCES
4.modify: libcliui_a_CFLAGS => libcliui_la_CFLAGS
5.modify: libcliui_a_DEPENCENCIES => libcliui_la_DEPENCENCIES

./ui/gtk/Makefile.am

1.modify: noinst_LIBRARIES = libgtkui.a libgtkui_dirty.a => lib_LTLIBRARIES = libgtkui.la libgtkui_dirty.la
2.add libgtkui.la and libgtkui_dirty.la to CLEANFILES
3.modify: libgtkui_a_SOURCES => libgtkui_la_SOURCES
4.modify: libgtkui_a_CFLAS => libgtkui_la_CFLAGS
5.add libgtkui_la_LIBADD = -lglib-2.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lgtk-x11-2.0
6.modify: libgtkui_a_DEPENDENCIES => libgtkui_la_DEPENCENCIES
7.modify: libgtkui_dirty_a_SOURCES => libgtkui_dirty_la_SOURCES
8.modify: libgtkui_dirty_a_DEPENCENCIES => libgtkui_dirty_la_DEPENCENCIES

./ui/gtk/Makefile.common

1.add ../../file.c and ../../capture.c to WIRESHARK_GTK_SRC

automake under ./

#./configure --disable-dftest --disable-rawshark

#make (after this,you have your libtshark.so)

to use it up, you need to do more.

1.declare tshark() function in your program, as a entry to use libtshark.so. You may create a header file called tshark.h in your project and declare like this:'#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
'#endif
int tshark(int argc, char *argv[]);
'#ifdef __cplusplus
}
'#endif

remember to copy this header file under your libtshark directory before you build it.

2.link libtshark.so to your program 3.call tshark function like this, for example:

char arg_self = "/data/home/davidcyzhou/workspace/test/Debug/test";
char r_symbol = "-r";
char r_option = "/data/home/davidcyzhou/xxxx.pcap";
char V_symbol = "-V";
char* args[4] = { arg_self, V_symbol, r_symbol, r_option };
tshark(4, args);

4.when you build your program with libtshark.so, there might be some undefined reference err when it went with link command. Just comment related lines in your libtshark codes and rebuild. 5.before you execute your program, make sure your LD_LIBRARY_PATH have the path to the libtshark.so. 6.Now you should see your program can output like tshark does.

After all above, you can do your business with libtshark.so, like if you want to get the contents above TCP layer in each packets and replay them, just save the contents in a linked-list where it prints the protocol tree in tshark and return the list back to your program. Then you can do your replay logic in your program.

I will be happy if this help anyone else. If you have trouble with the process, please send me email:[email protected]