From 8eff4ca55d6e7a0d7193c6fc9d07b47d1fe0b565 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mario Fetka Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:06:32 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] add man pages for ipx dump tools --- Makefile.am | 4 ++- docs/ipx_dump.8 | 81 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ docs/ipx_parse.8 | 74 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 158 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) create mode 100644 docs/ipx_dump.8 create mode 100644 docs/ipx_parse.8 diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am index 467a4ce..b9ba672 100644 --- a/Makefile.am +++ b/Makefile.am @@ -58,7 +58,9 @@ man_MANS = \ docs/ipx_interface.8 \ docs/ipx_internal_net.8 \ docs/ipx_route.8 \ - docs/ipx_cmd.8 + docs/ipx_cmd.8 \ + docs/ipx_dump.8 \ + docs/ipx_parse.8 samples_files = \ Samples/ipxrcv.c \ diff --git a/docs/ipx_dump.8 b/docs/ipx_dump.8 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f7a88f --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/ipx_dump.8 @@ -0,0 +1,81 @@ +.TH IPX_DUMP 8 "April 2026" "ipx-utils 1.3" "System Administration" +.SH NAME +ipx_dump \- dump IPX packets from a network interface +.SH SYNOPSIS +.B ipx_dump +.RB [ \-r ] +.RB [ \-d +.IR device ] +.RI [ node ] +.br +.B ipx_dump +.B \-h +.SH DESCRIPTION +.B ipx_dump +captures Ethernet frames from a network interface and prints IPX packets in a +text format suitable for inspection or for later decoding with +.BR ipx_parse (8). + +By default, +.B ipx_dump +opens a raw packet socket on the selected interface, puts the interface into +promiscuous mode while it is running, and prints decoded IPX frame information. +The program must normally be run as root or with equivalent capabilities. + +When +.B \-r +is used, +.B ipx_dump +prints raw Ethernet frames as hexadecimal data prefixed with +.BR raweth . +This raw output can be piped to +.BR ipx_parse (8) +for more detailed protocol decoding. +.SH OPTIONS +.TP +.B \-r +Dump raw Ethernet frames instead of the default decoded IPX frame output. +.TP +.BI \-d " device" +Capture packets from +.IR device . +If this option is not specified, +.B eth0 +is used. +.TP +.B \-h +Show usage information and exit. +.TP +.I node +Optional IPX node filter. If specified, only packets whose source or +destination node matches +.I node +are printed. The node value is parsed as an IPX node address. +.SH EXAMPLES +.TP +Capture decoded IPX packets on the default interface: +.B ipx_dump +.TP +Capture raw frames on interface +.BR eth1 : +.B ipx_dump -r -d eth1 +.TP +Capture raw frames and decode them with +.BR ipx_parse : +.B ipx_dump -r -d eth1 | ipx_parse +.SH NOTES +.B ipx_dump +temporarily enables promiscuous mode on the selected interface and restores the +previous interface flags before exiting normally. If the program is killed +abruptly, the interface flags may need to be checked manually. + +The raw capture mode uses Linux packet sockets and is intended for diagnostic +use. +.SH SEE ALSO +.BR ipx_parse (8), +.BR ipx_configure (8), +.BR ipx_interface (8), +.BR ipx_route (8) +.SH AUTHORS +Originally written by Volker Lendecke and Petr Vandrovec. +Maintained in the standalone ipx-utils package by Mario Fetka. diff --git a/docs/ipx_parse.8 b/docs/ipx_parse.8 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a1dfc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/ipx_parse.8 @@ -0,0 +1,74 @@ +.TH IPX_PARSE 8 "April 2026" "ipx-utils 1.3" "System Administration" +.SH NAME +ipx_parse \- parse textual IPX packet dumps +.SH SYNOPSIS +.B ipx_parse +.RI < input +.SH DESCRIPTION +.B ipx_parse +reads textual packet dumps from standard input and decodes IPX, SAP, NCP, and +related packet data into a human-readable form. + +The expected input format is one packet per line. Each line starts with a frame +type string followed by a space and a hexadecimal packet dump. This is the +format produced by +.BR ipx_dump (8) +when raw output mode is enabled. + +.B ipx_parse +does not capture packets by itself. It is a decoder for packet dump streams. +Use +.BR ipx_dump (8) +to capture live traffic. +.SH INPUT FORMAT +Each input line must have this form: +.PP +.RS +.I frame +.I hex-data +.RE +.PP +The +.I frame +field is a short frame name such as +.BR raweth . +The +.I hex-data +field is a continuous hexadecimal byte stream. + +Malformed lines cause +.B ipx_parse +to print an error and exit. +.SH EXAMPLES +.TP +Decode a saved raw dump: +.B ipx_parse < ipx-dump.txt +.TP +Capture and decode live traffic: +.B ipx_dump -r -d eth0 | ipx_parse +.SH DIAGNOSTICS +.TP +.B line too long +An input line exceeded the internal line buffer. +.TP +.B illegal line format +An input line did not contain a frame name followed by packet data. +.TP +.B illegal packet +The packet data contained non-hexadecimal or otherwise invalid byte data. +.SH NOTES +.B ipx_parse +is mainly a diagnostic tool. Its output is intended for administrators, +developers, and maintainers debugging legacy IPX/NCP network traffic. + +The parser understands a number of common IPX packet types, including RIP, +SAP, SPX, NCP, and burst packets. Unknown packet types are printed with the +available numeric values. +.SH SEE ALSO +.BR ipx_dump (8), +.BR ipx_configure (8), +.BR ipx_interface (8), +.BR ipx_route (8) +.SH AUTHORS +Originally written by Volker Lendecke and Petr Vandrovec. +Maintained in the standalone ipx-utils package by Mario Fetka.