Wireshark-dev: [Wireshark-dev] [exported_pdu] p2p_dir and link_dir

From: Mauro Levra <Mauro.Levra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2025 12:43:03 +0000
Hi all,

I am storing 3GPP messages in exported_pdu format (e.g., plain NAS messages, 5G NR signalling...), and I am looking for a way to store the direction of the packet: uplink or downlink. I know that for some packet the direction is known from the protocol, but for other it is not and I would like to have it saved in the exported_pdu header.

In the exported_pdu format, I see there is a tag EXP_PDU_TAG_P2P_DIRECTION that sets the p2p_dir field of the packet. Looking at the comments in packet_info.h I can see that both p2p_dir and link_dir exist, and I am not sure about the difference and whether we need to add a tag for link_dir in the exported_pdu format.

Can you please help me understand this difference?
I can create a MR to add a new tag for link_dir if that is the right approach.

Thanks,

Mauro Levra