BGPDUMP(1)

📦
version 1.6.2 · 3 versions
, in debian bookworm, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble

💖 BGPDUMP — okay bestie, let's talk about bgpdump 💖

bgpdump(1) — the manual page you're literally reading right now. Pull up a chair, grab a boba, we're decoding MRT files together. 🧋✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

bgpdump — translates MRT format files into readable output. That's the whole vibe. It takes those cursed binary blobs and makes them legible. 💅

🎀 VERSION 🎀

Version 1.4.99.15+hg127 — yes, that's the whole number, no cap. 👑

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

Usage, babes:

bgpdump [-m|-M] [-t dump|-t change] [-O <output-file>] <input-file>

That's it. That's the incantation. 🪄

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

💫 Output mode 💫

Pick your fighter, bestie:

  • -H — multi-line, human-readable. This is the default, so if you don't say anything, this is what you get. 🫶
  • -m — one line per entry, with unix timestamps. Compact queen energy.
  • -M — one line per entry, with human readable timestamps shaped like MM/DD/YY HH:MM:SS. And listen — there are other differences between -m and -M, so don't assume they're twins. They are not. 😭

🌈 Common options 🌈

  • -O file — output goes to file instead of STDOUT. Redirect your whole life. 💖
  • -s — log to syslog. This is the default, iconic behaviour honestly.
  • -v — log to STDERR instead. For when you want the tea right there in your terminal. 🍓

🦋 Options for -m and -M modes 🦋

These only hit different when you're in -m or -M land, iykyk:

  • -t dump — timestamps for RIB dumps reflect the time of the dump. This is the default.
  • -t change — timestamps for RIB dumps reflect the last route modification instead.
  • -p — show the packet index at the second position. Number two. Right there. 📍

👑 Special options 👑

  • -T — run internal tests and then exit. It's giving "I'm just here to check myself, bye". 🧚

🌟 INPUT FORMATS 🌟

What can you feed this thing? Bestie, let me list it out:

  • MRT routing table dump entries in TABLE_DUMP or TABLE_DUMP_V2 types
  • Zebra/Quagga BGP records:
    • BGP messages (OPEN, UPDATE, NOTIFY, KEEPALIVE)
    • BGP state changes
  • File may be gzipped or bzip2'd, and/or passed in through stdin. Yes, you can pipe it. Live your truth. 🫶

The file format is described in the Internet Draft grow-mrt-13:

https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-grow-mrt-13

Go read it if you want the deep lore. 📚

💀 BUGS 💀

Okay so, not everything is perfect, and we're being honest about it:

  • If a single update message contains more than 8192 added or withdrawn prefixes, all those above that number are ignored. Gone. Poof. 🫠
  • Files with a name longer than 999 characters cannot be processed. 999 is the limit, 1000 is a crime scene.
  • The bgpdump program is not y2038 compliant. This is inherited from the file format, so it's not even bgpdump's fault, it's generational trauma. 😭

🍓 DEBIAN 🍓

Besides bug fixes, the following changes were done in the packaging for the Debian distribution:

  • The maximum number of prefixes processed from a single update messages was raised from 2050 to 8192. Debian said "actually, let's raise the ceiling" and honestly? Slay. 💅

💜 AUTHOR 💜

bgpdump was originally written by Dan Ardelean and the RIPE NCC took over maintenance in 2005. Shoutout to the maintainers fr fr. 🫶

bgpdump is Copyright © 2007-2011 RIPE NCC.

This manpage is based on bgpdump's usage output, the bgpdump's homepage, and other sources. It was written for the Debian project by Christoph Biedl <debian.axhn@manchmal.in-ulm.de> but may be used by others. Generous king behaviour. 👑

And that's the whole page, bestie. You made it to the end of BGPDUMP(1) — version 1.4.99.15+hg127, Debian packaging and all. Periodt. 💖✨🎀
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