Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] Wireshark 1.11.3 on FreeBSD: no plugins are loaded

From: Jeff Morriss <jeff.morriss.ws@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 16:21:49 -0400
On 04/01/14 10:47, Jo wrote:
Hey there,

I compiled Wireshark 1.11.3 on FreeBSD and can see that the plugins
(especially one dissector I wrote as a plugin) is working in the build
environment.
When I copy the build to another FreeBSD machine, Wireshark runs
properly but does not seem to load any of the plugins in the plugin
folder (the dissector table does not list any of the plugins).

Is there anything I can do to debug this issue and see why wireshark is
not loading the plugins?

Did you copy the build or did you make a package and install the package? That is, where are the plugins on the new machine? Below /usr/local/ (for example) or /home/<you>/wireshark-build/[...]?

Wireshark will only load plugins out of the build directory if it detects some special files that are present in the build directory or if the WIRESHARK_RUN_FROM_BUILD_DIRECTORY environment variable is set. Else it will try to load them from the global plugins directory (depends on the configured installation prefix) or your personal plugins directory ($HOME/.wireshark/plugins/). If you look in the Folders tab in the Help->About Wireshark UI it'll show you where it is looking.

If all else fails, you can always 'truss' (or the FreeBSD equivalent) Wireshark to see where it is looking for the plugins.