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http://bugs.wireshark.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=2412

           Summary: Feature request: expert info configuration framework
           Product: Wireshark
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: Enhancement
          Priority: Low
         Component: Wireshark
        AssignedTo: wireshark-bugs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        ReportedBy: jyoung@xxxxxxx


Build Information:

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Hello,

The issue of what severity level any specific "expert" message should be set to
was brought up several times at Sharkfest'08 and was also the point of a recent
message thread on the developer's list:

  http://www.wireshark.org/lists/wireshark-dev/200804/msg00071.html 

I believe Wireshark's expert info system can be augmented to include a
configuration framework that would allow a user to alter the severity of any
and all expert messages.  

This proposed framework would include the ability to apply various profiles
that might be "tuned" to the type of data the user is analyzing.  To quote Ulf
Lamping from the message thread cited above:

> For example, you could have profiles like: "embedded system", "home 
> network", "high performance network", ... or whatever else makes sense.

I've already started thinking about how I might implement the expert info
configuration framework and how it could best be added without too much
overhead/pain for both the developers who will add the specific expert message
content or for the Wireshark runtime environment (this configuration framework
should have a negligible impact on the startup of Wireshark).

I'm thinking that most of the this framework can be hidden in C preprocessor
macros in much the same way that a lot of the other "heavy lifting" is done
within the Wireshark source code.   An initialization routine called from each
module with expert info would register all their expert messages to a common
data structure.  The configuration framework then allow any and all of the
default severity levels for the expert messages to be overridden at runtime
with expert info preference profiles. 

I am eager to learn of any pointers to prior art or any comments others may
have on this proposal.

Thanks,

Jim Y.


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