This README file is in -*- text -*- mode, because Emacs likes it that
way.

This is the first release of a whole bunch of Perl modules which I
have named NetPacket::*.  These modules do basic disassembly of
network packets of various Internet protocols.  There are hooks for
assembly of packets but in this version, I haven't bothered
implementing them.

I've used these scripts for a variety of little jobs such as snooping
various TCP services, gathering network traffic statistics by
source/destination/protocol, and for unpacking the contents of IP
tunnels.  They're actually pretty useful.  I recommend fetching and
installing the Net::Pcap module to actually gather packet data, and
for writing small scripts based on packet capture, the Net::PcapUtils
module is also useful.

At present, decoding for the following protocols has been
implemented.  

	- Ethernet (802.3 and 802.2)
	- ARP
	- ICMP
	- IGMP
	- IP
	- UDP
	- TCP

It's pretty easy to add new protocols.  Just copy one of the existing
modules and figure out an unpack string which will unpack the
information in the packet and store the data into fields in the
namespace of the NetPacket::whatever object.  More information can be
found in the NetPacket(3) manpage, which is the base class module.

I'd be interested in receiving bug reports, comments or any
improvements (especially additional protocols) to the NetPacket
modules.


Tim Potter
25th April, 1999
tpot@acsys.anu.edu.au
