# the-tcpdump-group/libpcap

the LIBpcap interface to various kernel packet capture mechanism

Repository: https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/libpcap
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/libpcap
Homepage: https://www.tcpdump.org/
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: pcap, pcapng, packet-capture, sniffer, libpcap, bpf, berkeley-packet-filter, bsd-packet-filter
Last push: 2026-08-21T13:02:24+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 76/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4889, "days_push": 12, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3163, forks 948 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:46.600935+00:00)

## What it is
libpcap is a system-independent C/C++ library providing a portable API for user-level network packet capture, with BPF-based filtering and pcap/pcapng file support. It is the foundational library behind tools like tcpdump and Wireshark.

## Use cases
- capture network packets in a C program
- write a packet sniffer
- filter traffic with BPF expressions
- save captured packets to pcap files
- monitor network traffic for security analysis
- read and parse pcapng capture files
- collect network statistics

## When to choose
- you need portable low-level packet capture across Linux, BSD, macOS, or Windows
- you are building network monitoring, IDS, or traffic analysis tools
- you want the de facto standard pcap API with mature BPF filtering

## When to avoid
- you need high-level protocol analysis rather than raw capture
- you want eBPF-based kernel filtering on Linux, which libpcap does not support
- you need a ready-made packet analyzer GUI like Wireshark instead of a library

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: networking, security, monitoring, sdk
- domain: networking, security, developer-tools, operating-systems
- platform: windows, bsd, cross-platform, c
- tags: packet-capture, pcap, pcapng, bpf, packet-filtering, sniffer, network-monitoring, traffic-analysis, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- the-tcpdump-group/libpcap (main) score 76

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:46.600935+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:45:32.365269+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/libpcap (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:46.600935+00:00, sha 020ab40ebbd9)
  - homepage: https://www.tcpdump.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:39:53.356191+00:00, sha 0cd4060557e1)
  - site_page: https://www.tcpdump.org/faq.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:39:53.365397+00:00, sha 3380ae008663)
  - site_page: https://www.tcpdump.org/old_releases.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:39:53.368043+00:00, sha 24ccb5855286)
  - site_page: https://www.tcpdump.org/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:39:53.369896+00:00, sha 0cd4060557e1)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.