Wireshark · Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Question

[Guy Harris <gharris@xxxxxxxxx>]

Mark Slinger wrote:

> Do you plan to implement protocol decode support for TCP Optimisation 
> tools such as that of www.FlashNetworks.com 
> <http://www.flashnetworks.com/> ? 

	http://www.ethereal.com/faq#q1.6

We, collectively, don't have any plans to add any protocol support of 
any sort; protocol dissection support is up to individuals.

> It is my understanding that if someone collects IP trace data from a 
> network node which is using a compression tool then currently Ethereal 
> would not be capable of decoding the TCP and following service protocols 
> as they would be in a proprietary compression format.

If it's proprietary *and* secret, it would require reverse-engineering 
of the compression scheme.  Otherwise, it'd require a spec of some sort.

In both cases, it'd require somebody with the time to implement it and 
an interest in implementing it; as per the FAQ item cited above, that's 
what's required for *any* protocol to be handled.