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IN NO EVENT SHALL [your name] OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" $FreeBSD$ .\" .Dd May 11, 2012 .Dt BPF 9 .Os .\" .Sh NAME .Nm bpf .Nd "Berkeley Packet Filter" .\" .Sh SYNOPSIS .In net/bpf.h .\" .Ft void .Fn bpfattach "struct ifnet *ifp" "u_int dlt" "u_int hdrlen" .Ft void .Fo bpfattach2 .Fa "struct ifnet *ifp" "u_int dlt" "u_int hdrlen" "struct bpf_if **driverp" .Fc .Ft void .Fn bpfdetach "struct ifnet *ifp" .Ft void .Fn bpf_tap "struct ifnet *ifp" "u_char *pkt" "u_int *pktlen" .Ft void .Fn bpf_mtap "struct ifnet *ifp" "struct mbuf *m" .Ft void .Fn bpf_mtap2 "struct bpf_if *bp" "void *data" "u_int dlen" "struct mbuf *m" .Ft u_int .Fo bpf_filter .Fa "const struct bpf_insn *pc " "u_char *pkt" "u_int wirelen" "u_int buflen" .Fc .Ft int .Fn bpf_validate "const struct bpf_insn *fcode" "int flen" .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION The Berkeley Packet Filter provides a raw interface, that is protocol independent, to data link layers. It allows all packets on the network, even those destined for other hosts, to be passed from a network interface to user programs. Each program may specify a filter, in the form of a .Nm filter machine program. The .Xr bpf 4 manual page describes the interface used by user programs. This manual page describes the functions used by interfaces to pass packets to .Nm and the functions for testing and running .Nm filter machine programs. .Pp The .Fn bpfattach function attaches a network interface to .Nm . The .Fa ifp argument is a pointer to the structure that defines the interface to be attached to an interface. The .Fa dlt argument is the data link-layer type: .Dv DLT_NULL (no link-layer encapsulation), .Dv DLT_EN10MB (Ethernet), .Dv DLT_IEEE802_11 (802.11 wireless networks), etc. The rest of the link layer types can be found in .In net/bpf.h . The .Fa hdrlen argument is the fixed size of the link header; variable length headers are not yet supported. The .Nm system will hold a pointer to .Fa ifp->if_bpf . This variable will set to a .Pf non- Dv NULL value when .Nm requires packets from this interface to be tapped using the functions below. .Pp The .Fn bpfattach2 function allows multiple .Nm instances to be attached to a single interface, by registering an explicit .Fa if_bpf rather than using .Fa ifp->if_bpf . It is then possible to run .Xr tcpdump 1 on the interface for any data link-layer types attached. .Pp The .Fn bpfdetach function detaches a .Nm instance from an interface, specified by .Fa ifp . The .Fn bpfdetach function should be called once for each .Nm instance attached. .Pp The .Fn bpf_tap function is used by an interface to pass the packet to .Nm . The packet data (including link-header), pointed to by .Fa pkt , is of length .Fa pktlen , which must be a contiguous buffer. The .Fa ifp argument is a pointer to the structure that defines the interface to be tapped. The packet is parsed by each processes filter, and if accepted, it is buffered for the process to read. .Pp The .Fn bpf_mtap function is like .Fn bpf_tap except that it is used to tap packets that are in an .Vt mbuf chain, .Fa m . The .Fa ifp argument is a pointer to the structure that defines the interface to be tapped. Like .Fn bpf_tap , .Fn bpf_mtap requires a link-header for whatever data link layer type is specified. Note that .Nm only reads from the .Vt mbuf chain, it does not free it or keep a pointer to it. This means that an .Vt mbuf containing the link-header can be prepended to the chain if necessary. A cleaner interface to achieve this is provided by .Fn bpf_mtap2 . .Pp The .Fn bpf_mtap2 function allows the user to pass a link-header .Fa data , of length .Fa dlen , independent of the .Vt mbuf .Fa m , containing the packet. This simplifies the passing of some link-headers. .Pp The .Fn bpf_filter function executes the filter program starting at .Fa pc on the packet .Fa pkt . The .Fa wirelen argument is the length of the original packet and .Fa buflen is the amount of data present. The .Fa buflen value of 0 is special; it indicates that the .Fa pkt is actually a pointer to an mbuf chain .Pq Vt "struct mbuf *" . .Pp The .Fn bpf_validate function checks that the filter code .Fa fcode , of length .Fa flen , is valid. .\" .Sh RETURN VALUES The .Fn bpf_filter function returns \-1 (cast to an unsigned integer) if there is no filter. Otherwise, it returns the result of the filter program. .Pp The .Fn bpf_validate function returns 0 when the program is not a valid filter program. .\" .Sh EVENT HANDLERS .Nm invokes .Fa bpf_track .Xr EVENTHANDLER 9 event each time listener attaches to or detaches from an interface. Pointer to .Pq Vt "struct ifnet *" is passed as the first argument, interface .Fa dlt follows. Last argument indicates listener is attached (1) or detached (0). Note that handler is invoked with .Nm global lock held, which implies restriction on sleeping and calling .Nm subsystem inside .Xr EVENTHANDLER 9 dispatcher. Note that handler is not called for write-only listeners. .\" .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr tcpdump 1 , .Xr bpf 4 , .Xr EVENTHANDLER 9 .\" .Sh HISTORY The Enet packet filter was created in 1980 by Mike Accetta and Rick Rashid at Carnegie-Mellon University. Jeffrey Mogul, at Stanford, ported the code to .Bx and continued its development from 1983 on. Since then, it has evolved into the Ultrix Packet Filter at .Tn DEC , a .Tn STREAMS .Tn NIT module under .Tn SunOS 4.1, and .Tn BPF . .\" .Sh AUTHORS .An -nosplit .An Steven McCanne , of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, implemented BPF in Summer 1990. Much of the design is due to .An Van Jacobson . This manpage was written by .An Orla McGann .