custom C/C++ plugin will not load - no indication why
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
        
        asked Apr 12 '18  
 
 Nathan Ernst gravatar image  
 
 
 
 
    
        
        updated Apr 12 '18  
 
 
 
 
 
I inherited a custom dissector written in C & C++ from a former coworker. Basically it decodes our internal protobuf messages and a few other internal custom formatted messages. Short of it is, my plugin is not loading, and I'm not receiving any errors or indication that it's trying.
 
I'm building on 64-bit Windows 10 with VS2015 Professional. I followed the build instructions here to build Wireshark 2.9. I also built protobuf 3.5.1 as a DLL. I reconfigured my dissector to utilize all of the libs that my WS build pulled down and configured. I placed my plugin DLL & the protobuf DLLs in ./run/RelWithDebInfo/plugins/2.9/mydissector.
 
After all of this, I run WS from ./run/RelWithDebInfo/Wireshark.exe. When I go to the menu Help -> About Wireshark, and select the Plugins tab, I do not see my plugin listed.
 
I've scoured the documentation, but I don't see any indication of how to go about debugging or tracing this.
 
Is there a way to turn on some logging or tracing to determine what DLLs WS considered and if/why a DLL was not loaded?  I've not found a way to configure it to load a particular plugin DLL and force a report of an error.
 
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Comments
Can you try placing the plugins in ./run/RelWithDebInfo/plugins/2.9/epan/ with the rest of the dissector plugins?
cmaynard gravatar imagecmaynard (
    
        Apr 12 '18
    )
That's progress... I actually get an error now: The program can't start because libprotobuf.dll is missing from your computer. This leads me to another question: where should dependencies live? I wasn't able to statically link protobuf into my DLL, so do I need to put protobuf in the wireshark root? Add the location to PATH?
Nathan Ernst gravatar imageNathan Ernst (
    
        Apr 12 '18
    )
Answered my own question on where the dependencies should live, as it seems if they're in the same folder as wireshark.exe, they're picked up automatically.
Nathan Ernst gravatar imageNathan Ernst (
    
        Apr 12 '18
    )
Also had to rename a symbol; extern "C" const gchar version[] -> extern "C" const gchar plugin_version[]. Also had to add extern "C" const gchar plugin_release[] = "2.9";  This has gotten me to the point where my DLL now loads again, however my protocol is not showing up.
Nathan Ernst gravatar imageNathan Ernst (
    
        Apr 12 '18
    )
I would suggest a careful (re-)reading of README.plugins, as well as comparing your plugin with any of the other plugins provided with Wireshark.
cmaynard gravatar imagecmaynard (
    
        Apr 12 '18
    )

            
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