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You will need to make sure the machine on which you're running is configured to support packet capture, e.g. you
might need a capture driver installed. The way this is done differs from operating system to operating system.
Linux
On Linux, you need to have "packet socket" support enabled in your kernel. Your distribution might enable this by
default in the kernel; most recent versions of distributions do so. If it does not, see the "Packet socket" item in the
Linux "Configure.help" file.
On various BSDs, you need to have BPF support enabled in your kernel. In macOS, and in newer versions of at least
some free-software BSDs, it's enabled by default. In other BSDs, see the documentation for your system for
information on how to enable BPF support.
SunOS (Solaris)
In SunOS 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x, packet capture support is present by default.
HP-UX
In HP-UX 9.x, 10,x, and 11.x, packet capture support is present by default. (XXX - true of 9.x?)
Digital/Tru64 UNIX
On DEC OSF/1, Digital UNIX, or Tru64 UNIX, you need to have packet filtering support in your kernel; the
doconfig command will allow you to configure and build a new kernel with that option.
IRIX
Windows
On Windows, you need to have NPcap or the older WinPcap installed in order to capture network traffic.