MTRACEBIS(8)

💖 NAME 💖

okay so bestie, meet mtracebis — a multicast trace client. that's the whole vibe. she traces. she multicasts. she slays. 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

mtracebis [-h] [-v]

mtracebis <multicast source> [<multicast group>]

two moods fr: "help me / verbose me" energy with -h and -v, or give her a multicast source (and optionally a multicast group) and let her cook. 🍓

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

mtracebis is a program for initiating multicast traceroute, aka "mtrace", queries. she's the one who starts the conversation, no cap.

she can start two types of mtrace queries, and they are not the same thing:

• weak — checks whether the interfaces towards the source are multicast enabled. you start it by supplying only the multicast source address. just the source. that's it. 💅
• group — checks whether there's actually multicast routing protocol state hanging around for a particular multicast group. you start this one by supplying both the multicast source and the group. two args, one mission. 🫶

now here's the sequencing drama, because it matters:

the first query sent is a full query, and she is capable of crossing the network allllll the way to the source. iconic behavior. but if that fails? she does not give up, she switches strategies and initiates hop-by-hop queries instead. 😭

hop-by-hop queries start by requesting only a response from the nearest router. then the next query gets extended to the next two routers, and so on... and on... and on... until a whole set of routers is tested for connectivity. it's giving breadcrumb trail. it's giving patience. it's giving network detective. 🔍✨

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📁 FILES 📁

• /usr/lib/frr/mtracebis — the default location of the mtracebis binary. that's where she lives. that's her address. 🏠

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⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

this man page is intended to be a quick reference for command line options. the definitive document is the info file frr latest or the documentation available on the project website at https://frrouting.org/. so like, this is the group chat recap, not the whole syllabus. don't come for me if you needed more detail, go read the actual docs bestie 💀

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🩺 DIAGNOSTICS 🩺

the daemon may log to standard output, to a VTY, to a log file, or through syslog to the system logs. so many options, she's versatile like that. 💜

FRR supports many debugging options — see the Info file, web docs or source for details. iykyk. 🔥

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

okay the whole friend group showed up, say hi:

• frr-zebra(8), vtysh(1), frr-ripd(8), frr-ripngd(8), frr-ospfd(8), frr-ospf6d(8), frr-bgpd(8), frr-isisd(8), frr-babeld(8), frr-nhrpd(8), frr-pimd(8), frr-pbrd(8), frr-ldpd(8), frr-eigrpd(8), frr-staticd(8), frr-fabricd(8), frr-vrrpd(8), mtracebis(8) <https://frrouting.org/>

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💀 BUGS 💀

FRR eats bugs for breakfast. no crumbs. not me describing software as a breakfast enjoyer but here we are. 🍳

if you have food for the maintainers, please email <<dev@lists.frrouting.org>>. they're hungry. feed them. 🙈

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

Mladen Sablic — the main character who made this happen. 👑

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📜 Copyright 📜

2017, FRR

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and that's the whole page bestie!! this was the latest version, dated Sep 22, 2026, brought to you by FRR — go trace something gorgeous, you've got this 💖✨🦋