PCAP_LIST_TSTAMP_TYPES(3PCAP)

okay so bestie, welcome to PCAP_LIST_TSTAMP_TYPES(3PCAP) — the manual page that’s literally giving “which time stamp types can my capture device serve, and how do I free that list after?” energy. ✨

🎀 NAME 🎀

• pcap_list_tstamp_types, pcap_free_tstamp_types — get a list of time stamp types supported by a capture device, and free that list. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <pcap/pcap.h>

int pcap_list_tstamp_types(pcap_t *p, int **tstamp_typesp);
void pcap_free_tstamp_types(int *tstamp_types);

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

pcap_list_tstamp_types() is used to get a list of the supported time stamp types of the interface associated with the pcap descriptor. It allocates an array to hold the list and sets *tstamp_typesp to point to the array. See pcap-tstamp(7) for a list of all the time stamp types. 👑

The caller is responsible for freeing the array with pcap_free_tstamp_types(), which frees the list pointed to by tstamp_types. So yeah, cleanup is your main character moment, not libpcap’s. 🫶

🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

pcap_list_tstamp_types() returns the number of time stamp types in the array on success and PCAP_ERROR on failure.

• Return value 1? That means the only time stamp type supported is the one in the list, which is the capture device’s default time stamp type. Slay, singular. 💅
• Return value 0? That means the only time stamp type supported is PCAP_TSTAMP_HOST, which is the capture device’s default time stamp type. (Only older versions of libpcap will return that; newer versions will always return one or more types.) Iconic legacy behavior, ngl. 🕰️

If PCAP_ERROR is returned, pcap_geterr(3PCAP) or pcap_perror(3PCAP) may be called with p as an argument to fetch or display the error text. So you can get the tea on what went wrong. 😭

🌈 BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY 🌈

These functions became available in libpcap release 1.2.1. In previous releases, the time stamp type cannot be set; only the default time stamp type offered by a capture source is available. So if you’re time-traveling to older libpcap, adjust your expectations, bestie. ⏳

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• pcap(3PCAP)
• pcap_tstamp_type_val_to_name(3PCAP)
• pcap-tstamp(7)

mwah 💋 — source/version: PCAP_LIST_TSTAMP_TYPES(3PCAP), dated 8 September 2019.