YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 17 mi

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Torsten Robitzki — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:31:04 GMT

I had the very same problem (OS/X 10.14.6), but I had not python3 installed under /usr/bin. So I looked into nrf_sniffer_ble.sh to see that the script will run /usr/local/bin/python3 and I used the corresponding /usr/local/bin/pip3 to install pyserial. Then the plugin showed up in Wireshark.

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Mike Wirth — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 18:39:08 GMT

Here's some info from Guy Harris on the Wireshark forum:

NOTE: that works only if you have Xcode installed; apparently, /usr/bin/python3 is a small program that tries to find Xcode and run the python3 in Xcode (/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python).

I tried it on a machine running 10.15.4 and without Xcode, and it complained about not being able to find scrub.

Earlier releases didn't offer Python 3 at all, so, if Nordic's nRF Sniffer depends on Python 3, 1) it won't work on pre-Catalina systems if you don't install Python 3 but 2) if you do install Python 3, you don't have a collision between the OS's Python 3 and an installed Python 3.

So:

pre-Catalina: you must install Python 3 - and , but that's enough;
Catalina, without Xcode: you must install Python 3 - and pyserial, and probably pip3 to use to install pyserial - and may have to make sure that running Python doesn't get you the non-working /usr/bin/pyhon3
Catalina, with Xcode: if you don't install Python 3, and do install pyserial using, for example, /usr/bin/pip3 - that may be sufficient, and if you do install a third-party Python 3, you will probably have to make sure that running Python doesn't get you /usr/bin/python3 unless you've installed pyserial for it.

You might want to notify Nordic Semiconductor about this.

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Mike Wirth — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 22:18:59 GMT

BINGO! You got it right! I installed a full Python 3.8.2, which duplicated the copy already in Catalina. The pyserial I installed went to my copy. And my ./nrf_sniffer_ble.sh --extcap-interfaces test ran against that version as well. But Wireshark used the Catalina version.

Any hints on how I can uninstall my duplicate copy of Python3 without disturbing the system version? :-)

Thanks for all the help!

Mike

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Mike Wirth — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 21:39:13 GMT

Will check that out. Thanks for the suggestion.
Have been checking this out from the Wireshark side as well, on their forum, and have lots of interaction there, but no fix for my Catalina system yet. Check the thread out here.
I did succeed in getting it running on a non-Catalina older Mac, so have a partial solution for my immediate needs. Feel free to reduce the priority of this ticket to non-urgent.
From the Wireshark interactions I'm suspecting the new file security provisions in Catalina are getting the way of access to the nRF Sniffer files.

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Carles — Sun, 05 Apr 2020 15:16:59 GMT

We tested the sniffer on Catalina before releasing 3.0.0. The issue might be related to the fact that Catalina (surprisingly) comes with its own Python *3* installation built-in. So if you are using the homebrew Python 3 (/usr/local/bin/python3) to install pyserial it might well be that nrf_sniffer_ble.sh is actually instead invoking the macOS buil-tin /usr/bin/python3 Python 3 and in that case the built-in one might not have pyserial installed. You can try to install pyserial with /usr/bin/pip3 see if that fixes it:

$ /usr/bin/pip3 install -U pyserial

Then try running nrf_sniffer_ble.sh again and see if the interface is listed.

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Mike Wirth — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 07:32:02 GMT

Tried installing nrf Sniffer and Wireshark on a Windows 10 VM on my Mac. Installed fine, but has the same problem -- the nrf Capture plugin doesn't show up in the available list of Capture filters in Wireshark. That's in spite of passing the "run the filter from a command window in the extcap folder" test.

Note: "nrf_sniffer_ble.bat 3.0.0 extcap" does show up on the About Wireshark/Plugins tab, and doesn't show up on the same tab on the Mac.

Go figure.

Mike

PS: The Windows install only showed 2 Wired filters

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Mike Wirth — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 05:15:03 GMT

I tried installing Wireshark and nrf Sniffer on another Mac, with an earlier version of macOS than Catalina. Same problem.

I did note, however, that the installation package, Add Wireshark to the system path.pkg, didn't appear to do anything. The PATH environment variable was the same before and after running it. What pathname should have been added to PATH?

Thanks,

Mike

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Susheel Nuguru — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 11:32:28 GMT

I have asked for help from a colleague who might know, but I would suggest you use Windows if things are very urgent as you say they are,

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Mike Wirth — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 08:05:26 GMT

Would be useful if I can get nRF Sniffer working. Am trying to diagnose low-level BLE issues with iPhones and Android, part of a volunteer effort to create a Contact Tracker to help fight the current COVID-19 pandemic. So sooner, is better than later :-)

TIA,

Mike

RE: YANSSQ: Yet Another nRF Sniffer Setup Question! (Wireshark doesn't see nrf Capture Plugin)mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % pwd /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/extcap mike@Mikes-MacBook-Pro-10-1 extcap % ls -al total 760 drwxr-xr-x@ 1

Susheel Nuguru — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 06:52:19 GMT

There could be an issue with Wireshark/nrfSniffer interface in latest Mac OSes including Catalina. Haven't tested this myself but have noticed the noise around it. I can create a task for the developers to fix this, but currently I am not aware of any workarounds unfortunately.