Sniffnet Deployment & Usage Guide

Prerequisites

Runtime Requirements

Operating System: Windows 10+, macOS 10.14+, or Linux (kernel 3.2+)
Network Access: Root/administrative privileges (required for raw packet capture via libpcap/Npcap)
Graphics: GPU supporting OpenGL 3.3+ or Vulkan (for the iced GUI framework)
MMDB Databases: MaxMind GeoLite2 Country and ASN databases (optional, for geolocation features)

Build Requirements (From Source)

Rust Toolchain: Version 1.74 or later (stable channel)
System Libraries:
- libpcap (packet capture)
- openssl (TLS/SSL support)
- pkg-config (library detection)
Platform-Specific Tooling:
- Linux: libpcap-dev, libssl-dev, build-essential, libfontconfig-dev
- macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)
- Windows: Visual Studio Build Tools 2019+ and Npcap SDK

Installation

Option 1: Pre-built Binaries (Recommended)

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases:

Platform	x64/AMD64	ARM64	x86
Windows	`Sniffnet_Windows_x64.msi`	`Sniffnet_Windows_arm64.msi`	`Sniffnet_Windows_x86.msi`
macOS	`Sniffnet_macOS_Intel.dmg`	`Sniffnet_macOS_AppleSilicon.dmg`	—
Linux	`Sniffnet_LinuxAppImage_amd64.AppImage`	`Sniffnet_LinuxAppImage_arm64.AppImage`	—

Linux AppImage Setup:

chmod +x Sniffnet_LinuxAppImage_*.AppImage
./Sniffnet_LinuxAppImage_*.AppImage

Option 2: Build from Source

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/GyulyVGC/sniffnet.git
cd sniffnet

# Install dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian example)
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libpcap-dev libssl-dev pkg-config build-essential

# Build optimized release
cargo build --release --locked

# Binary location: ./target/release/sniffnet

Option 3: Cargo Install

# Install specific version tag
cargo install --git https://github.com/GyulyVGC/sniffnet.git --tag v1.3.0

Configuration

MaxMind Database Setup (Optional)

For country flags and ASN identification, download GeoLite2 databases:

Register at MaxMind (free)
Download GeoLite2-Country.mmdb and GeoLite2-ASN.mmdb
Place in one of these locations:
- Same directory as the Sniffnet executable
- $HOME/.config/sniffnet/ (Linux/macOS)
- %APPDATA%\sniffnet\ (Windows)

Environment Variables:

SNIFFNET_MMDDB_PATH: Custom path to MMDB directory
ICED_BACKEND: Force graphics backend (wgpu, tiny-skia, glow) if display issues occur

Persistent Settings

Application preferences are stored in platform-standard config directories:

Linux: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sniffnet/ (falls back to ~/.config/sniffnet/)
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/sniffnet/
Windows: %APPDATA%\sniffnet\

Build & Run

Development Mode

# Run with cargo (requires sudo for packet capture)
sudo cargo run

# Or build debug binary
cargo build
sudo ./target/debug/sniffnet

How to Deploy & Use GyulyVGC/sniffnet