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can ./autogen.sh be skipped in wireshark build process

0

Hi, I am trying to build wireshark 2.2.4 in linux Environment(cent os 6.3), the commands are:-

./autogen.sh
./configure
./make
to install:-
make install
I took source code directly from wireshark site. Now, My question is could i skip to execute ./autogen.sh. (because my build machine is having autoconf 2.63, whereas to build wireshark2.2.4 ,autoconf 2.64 or later is needed and currently the autoconf cannot be changed as it's used many other modules)

asked 25 Apr '17, 03:11

Abhisek's gravatar image

Abhisek
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accept rate: 0%

edited 25 Apr '17, 04:54

Jaap's gravatar image

Jaap ♦
11.7k16101

What source code did you take? git clone? From where, and which branch? tarball? Other?

(25 Apr '17, 04:55) Jaap ♦

it's a tarball (wireshark-2.2.4.tar.bz2).

(27 Apr '17, 23:29) Abhisek

2 Answers:

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As hinted at by Jaap's comment, it is possible to avoid running ./autogen.sh: the way to do it is to download Wireshark's source code as a tarball (e.g., from here). Those source tarballs have already had ./autogen.sh run on them (it's part of the make dist process in the world of autofoo).

Note that this won't work, however, if you need to modify Wireshark in certain ways (e.g., to add dissectors).

answered 25 Apr '17, 06:03

JeffMorriss's gravatar image

JeffMorriss ♦
6.2k572
accept rate: 27%

I actually tried without ./autogen.sh and build is successful. Thanks. But, If i want to add dissectors in epan/dissectors directory and update that directory makefile accordingly, then why i need autogen.sh in build process?

(27 Apr '17, 23:32) Abhisek

You may get away with that. Note that because Makefile is generated from Makefile.am you should make sure to add them there as well.

(28 Apr '17, 01:47) Jaap ♦

I tried to skip ./autogen.sh step by ./configure ./make ./make clean ./make install

but getting error when i am modifying makefile.am and that time geeting error in make clean & make failied ( error missing automake <version>).

Any alternatives so that i can change makefile.am and ./autogen.sh is not needed.

Please help.

(03 May '17, 03:55) Abhisek

"currently the autoconf cannot be changed as it's used many other modules)" would changing it really affect the other modules adversely?

(03 May '17, 03:59) Anders ♦

Ok basically the machine is having wireshark 1.10.6, wireshark 1.12.8 also. Current autoconf version 2.63. This autoconf is good enough for WS1.10.6 and WS 1.12.8, but not for 2.2.4. So if we change autoconf to 2.64 or later, does it affect WS1.10.6 and WS1.12.8 build process?

(03 May '17, 04:38) Abhisek
1

@Abhisek You can upgrade to autoconf 2.64 without issues, 1.10.z and 1.12.z should continue to work with that newer version.

(03 May '17, 04:58) Lekensteyn
1

getting error when i am modifying makefile.am ... make failied ( error missing automake <version>).

If you modify Makefile.am, you must have automake (that's the program that turns Makefile.am into Makefile.in) and you must run automake to rebuild Makefile.in. You're best advised to run ./autogen.sh, because it runs automaker and autoconf for you.

(03 May '17, 11:49) Guy Harris ♦♦

autoconf 2.69 is installed.So now ./autogen.sh is being executed. Now build for 2.2.4 is done as well as 1.10.x & 1.12.y. So no problem with autoconf latest version. Thanks all.

(05 May '17, 02:49) Abhisek
showing 5 of 8 show 3 more comments

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As alternative to autotools, you can try CMake. CentOS 6 includes CMake 2.8.12.2 while the current minimum required CMake version is 2.8.8.

No "autogen.sh" step is needed for CMake. Here are the recommended steps (assuming you are in the Wireshark source tree):

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
make install

For more information, see the README.cmake file in the top of the source tree.

answered 03 May '17, 04:46

Lekensteyn's gravatar image

Lekensteyn
2.2k3724
accept rate: 30%

Ok basically the machine is having wireshark 1.10.6, wireshark 1.12.8 also. Current autoconf version 2.63. This autoconf is good enough for WS1.10.6 and WS 1.12.8, but not for 2.2.4. So if we change autoconf to 2.64 or later, does it affect WS1.10.6 and WS1.12.8 build process?

(03 May '17, 04:55) Abhisek

(Replied to the other post; if you use CMake then the autoconf version is totally irrelevant as it is not used.)

(03 May '17, 04:59) Lekensteyn

But Cmake will use Qt, whereas we need gtk3 only. Please correct me if i am wrong.

(03 May '17, 05:16) Abhisek

Both CMake and autotools try to enable Qt, but if you prefer GTK+ 3 only (not recommended), use cmake -DBUILD_wireshark=0 -DBUILD_wireshark_gtk=1 -DENABLE_GTK3=1. You can see all available options using the ccmake . command in the build directory or cmake-gui . (for a graphical window).

(03 May '17, 05:22) Lekensteyn