hpav(1)

✨ hpav(1) — HomePlug AV Packet Listener ✨

okay bestie, so this is hpav from the Qualcomm Atheros Open Powerline Toolkit, and it is literally the chillest little listener you ever met 💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

hpav [options]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So here's the vibe: hpav shows you the HomePlug AV Ethernet messages that a local powerline device sends to the host or to the broadcast address. That's it. That's the whole job. 🎀

But listen, and this part is important: it does not show HomePlug AV frames going from the host to powerline devices, and it does not show frames forwarded over powerline through the local powerline devices. Those are a whole different story, not this one. 🙈

This program is basically the blueprint of a simple packet listener and daemon. Engineers and software developers can take it and extend it to build their own custom sniffers or servers. The framework is there, the scaffolding is there — but the extra features? You gotta add those yourself, bestie. It's giving starter pack ✨

And fyi, this program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. Peep the plc man page if you want the overview and the installation instructions. iykyk 💅

💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -i interface — Names the host ethernet interface to watch 👀. The named interface — think eth0, eth1, and so on — has to be connected to a HomePlug AV ethernet-to-powerline bridge adapter or you won't receive any HomePlug AV traffic at all. The default interface is eth1.
• -q — Quiet mode 🤫. Suppresses the printing of the normal message descriptions on stdout.
• -v — Verbose mode 🔍. Displays incoming frames in hexadecimal dump format on stdout. Heads up though: this option is independent of option -a, which prints VS_ARPC message text on stderr. Two separate things, two separate vibes.
• -?, --help — Print the program help summary on stdout 🫶. This option takes precedence over other options on the command line. It said what it said.
• -!, --version — Print program version information on stdout ⭐. This option takes precedence over other options on the command line too. Pro tip from the manpage itself: use this option when you're sending screen dumps to Atheros Technical Support so they know exactly which version of the Linux Toolkit you're running. Also, check the HomePlug AV Specification for a description of all HomePlug AV message types, and check the Qualcomm Atheros INT6000 Firmware Reference Manual for a description of Atheros Vendor Specific message types 📚.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

First one! This command monitors the default host interface eth1 for HomePlug AV traffic and dumps detected frames on the console as they arrive. To terminate the process, type ^C or ^Z at the console. This program is usually run in a separate console window while you're out here performing powerline operations. main character energy fr fr 👑

# hpav

Second one! This command monitors host interface eth4 for incoming HomePlug AV frames and writes them to the file hpav.log. Frames are printed in hexadecimal dump format because option -v is present. Terminate the foreground process by typing ^C or ^Z at the console.

# hpav -v -i eth4 > hpav.log

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️

The Atheros HomePlug AV Vendor Specific Management Message structure and content is proprietary to Qualcomm Atheros, Ocala FL USA. Consequently, public information is not available. Qualcomm Atheros reserves the right to modify management message structure and content in future firmware releases without any obligation to notify or compensate users of this program. 💀

not me reading that twice. anyway. the tea is: it's proprietary, it's not public, and they can change it whenever. periodt.

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

plc(1), efru(1), efsu(1), mme(1)

🎀 CREDITS 🎀

Charles Maier 🌸

and that's the whole page bestie, you're officially an expert now 💖✨

this cutie is from open-plc-utils-0.0.3, dated November 2013 — and yeah, that's hpav(1) itself, out here being iconic since 2013 🫶