Install libtrace with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• traceconvert
• tracediff
• traceends
• tracefilter
• tracemcast
• tracemerge
• tracepktdump
• tracereplay
• tracereport
• tracertstats
• tracesplit
• tracesplit_dir
• tracestats
• tracesummary
• tracetop
• tracetopends
• traceucast

Project history

The libtrace README states that the code was originally developed by the University of Waikato WAND research group and was primarily designed for the real-time interface to the Waikato DAG Capture Point software. It later grew beyond that original environment to support a range of trace and interface formats.

The repository records copyright for University of Waikato code through 2022 and for later code and documentation contributed by Shane Alcock from 2023 through 2026. The 4.0 series introduced a parallel packet-processing API for multithreaded workloads.

Adoption history

libtrace's adoption is strongest in network measurement, packet-trace analysis, and research tooling rather than broad desktop use. Its command-line utilities, including traceconvert, tracefilter, tracemerge, tracereport, tracesplit, tracestats, and tracesummary, made it useful as both a library and a practical trace-processing toolkit.

How it is used

Users employ libtrace to read, filter, convert, replay, summarize, and report on traffic captures from offline files or live interfaces. Developers link against the library when they need one API over multiple capture formats and, in the 4.0 line, when they need parallel packet processing.

Why package nerds care

For packet-analysis package nerds, libtrace is interesting because it is not just another pcap wrapper: it comes from a university measurement environment, carries a family of trace* command-line tools, and preserves support for specialized capture systems alongside common packet formats.

Timeline

• 2007-2022: University of Waikato copyright range shown in the README for code through version 4.0.20.
• 2017: GitHub releases page lists libtrace 4.0.2 as a public 4.0-series release.
• 2023: README records Shane Alcock copyright for newer code and documentation beginning in 2023.
• 2026: GitHub releases page lists Libtrace 4.0.33 on June 10, 2026.

Related projects

• Waikato DAG Capture Point software is the original environment named by the README.
• libpacketdump, wandio, libwandder, and related LibtraceTeam repositories sit in the same packet-trace tooling ecosystem.
• pcap-oriented tools such as tcpdump and Wireshark are adjacent consumers or producers of traffic capture data, though libtrace focuses on programmatic trace processing.

Sources

• http://www.wand.net.nz/
• https://github.com/LibtraceTeam/libtrace
• https://github.com/LibtraceTeam/libtrace/releases
• https://github.com/LibtraceTeam/libtrace/wiki/ChangeLog