OVS-TCPUNDUMP(1)

💅 OVS-TCPUNDUMP(1) — the Open vSwitch glow-up

okay bestie, so this one is called ovs-tcpundump and it lives in the Open vSwitch family. it's a whole little converter-girlie and honestly she eats ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

ovs-tcpundump — converts "tcpdump -xx" output into hex strings 🎀

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

ovs-tcpundump < <file>

ovs-tcpundump -h | --help

ovs-tcpundump -V | --version

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the vibe: the ovs-tcpundump program reads tcpdump -xx output from stdin, lowkey hunting for hexadecimal packet data 👀, and then dumps each Ethernet as a single hexadecimal string on stdout. that's the whole main character moment, periodt.

and this format? it's literally suitable for use with the ofproto/trace command supported by ovs-vswitchd(8) via ovs-appctl(8) 💖 so like, yes, it's giving "useful output" energy.

🚨 warning bestie, this is the important part: at least two -x or -X options must be given. if you don't, the output will omit the Ethernet header, which prevents the output from being used with ofproto/trace. no cap, that will ruin your whole day 😭

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -h, --help — prints a brief help message to the console 🫶 (your little "what do i even do" button)
• -V, --version — prints version information to the console ⭐ (for when you simply must know who she is)

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

ovs-appctl(8), ovs-vswitchd(8), ovs-pcap(1), tcpdump(8), wireshark(8)

like, go read those too, iykyk 🧚

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

The Open vSwitch Development Community 💜

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🍓 COPYRIGHT 🍓

2016-2024, The Open vSwitch Development Community

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and that's the page, bestie!! 🌈 this was version 3.6, dated Feb 13, 2026, straight from the Open vSwitch girlies themselves — mwah, slay, go dump some hex 💖🎀🦋