Delivering binary packages makes it much easier for the end-users to install Wireshark on their target system. This section will explain how the binary packages are made.
The Debian Package is built using dpkg-buildpackage, based on information found in the source tree under debian. See http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/336for a more in-depth discussion of the build process.
In the wireshark directory, type:
$ make debian-package
to build the Debian Package.
The RPM is built using rpmbuild (http://www.rpm.org/), which comes as standard on many flavours of Linux, including Red Hat and Fedora. The process creates a clean build environment in packaging/rpm/BUILD_every time the RPM is built. The settings controlling the build are in _packaging/rpm/SPECS/wireshark.spec.in. After editing the settings in this file, _./configure_must be run again in the wireshark directory to generate the actual specification script.
![]() | Careful with that configure setting |
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The SPEC file contains settings for the configure used to set the RPM build
environment. These are completely independent of any settings passed to the
usual Wireshark |
In the wireshark directory, type:
$ make rpm-package
to build the RPM and source RPM. Once it is done, there will be a message stating where the built RPM can be found.
![]() | This might take a while |
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Because this does a clean build as well as constructing the package this can take quite a long time. |
![]() | Build requirements differ from run requirements |
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Building the RPM requires building a source distribution which itself requires
the Qt development tools |
The MAC OS X Package is built using OS X packaging tools, based on information found in the source tree under packaging/macosx.
In the wireshark directory, type:
$ make osx-package
to build the MAC OS X Package.
The Nullsoft Install System is a free installer generator for Win32 based systems; instructions how to install it can be found in Section 4.16, “Win32: NSIS (optional)”. NSIS is script based, you will find the Wireshark installer generation script at: packaging/nsis/wireshark.nsi.
You will probably have to modify the MAKENSIS setting in the config.nmake file to specify where the NSIS binaries are installed.
In the wireshark directory, type:
> nmake -f makefile.nmake packaging
to build the installer.
![]() | This might take a while |
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Please be patient while the package is compressed. It might take some time, even on fast machines. |
If everything went well, you will now find something like: wireshark-setup-1.12.1.exe in the packaging/nsis directory.