Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] UI for packets differing by a checksum on the end

From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:56:01 -0700
On Jul 29, 2010, at 1:18 PM, Jon Smirl wrote:

> The hardware that is leaving the FCS on encapsulates them as Ethernet
> frames with an Ethertype of 0x809a.

OK, so these *aren't* native 802.15.4 captures, in the sense that the link-layer header at the beginning of the raw frame data isn't an 802.15.4 header, it's an Ethernet header.

In that case, the WTAP_ENCAP_ values are completely irrelevant; the WTAP_ENCAP_ value for the packets in question is, and should be, WTAP_ENCAP_ETHERNET.  Don't even bother defining WTAP_ENCAP_IEEE802_15_4_NOFCS.

So what does the hardware that *doesn't* include the FCS use?  Is it encapsulating them inside Ethernet frames?  If so, what Ethernet type does it use?  Does it also use 0x809a?  If so, could it choose a different Ethertype, so that programs that see those frames can automatically determine whether there's an FCS or not?