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Installation

Tcpreplay is portable C. It builds on Linux, macOS/Darwin, the BSDs, Solaris, Haiku and Cygwin. You need a C compiler and libpcap; everything else is optional.

Requirements

Required Purpose
C toolchain ✅ Compiler + linker (gcc/clang).
libpcap (libpcap-dev) ✅ Reading and writing pcap files; default packet injection.
CMake ≥ 3.16 or autotools ✅ One of the two build systems.
Python 3 git builds Regenerates the CLI parsers from a source checkout.
asciidoctor git builds Renders the man pages from a source checkout.
libdnet (libdumbnet-dev) optional Enables the fragroute traffic-mangling modules.
liburing optional --io-uring fast injection path (Linux).
libxdp / libbpf optional --xdp (AF_XDP) fast injection path (Linux).
netmap headers optional --netmap fast injection path.

Release tarball vs git checkout

A release tarball (tcpreplay-*.tar.xz) ships the generated CLI parsers and pre-rendered man pages, so it builds with just a C toolchain and libpcap — no Python 3 or asciidoctor needed. A git checkout regenerates those at build time, so it additionally needs Python 3 and asciidoctor.

Install the dependencies

$ sudo apt install build-essential cmake libpcap-dev
# optional extras:
$ sudo apt install libdumbnet-dev liburing-dev libxdp-dev
# only needed to build from a git checkout:
$ sudo apt install python3 asciidoctor

$ sudo dnf install gcc make cmake libpcap-devel
# optional extras:
$ sudo dnf install libnet-devel liburing-devel libxdp-devel
# only needed to build from a git checkout:
$ sudo dnf install python3 rubygem-asciidoctor

$ brew install cmake libpcap
# only needed to build from a git checkout:
$ brew install python3 asciidoctor

CMake is the primary, recommended build system since 4.6. From a source tree:

$ cmake -B build            # configure into ./build
$ cmake --build build       # compile
$ sudo cmake --install build

Prefer a preset? The repo ships CMakePresets.json:

$ cmake --preset debug      # or: asan, tsan
$ cmake --build build

Every configure feature has a CMake option — for example:

$ cmake -B build -DENABLE_DEBUG=ON -DWITH_NETMAP=/path/to/netmap

The mapping from --enable-*/--with-* flags to -D… options is documented in the header comment of the top-level CMakeLists.txt.

make test needs autotools

The test suite is currently autotools-only. If you want to run sudo make test, configure with autotools as shown below. CMake is otherwise the recommended path for building the tools.

Build with autotools

The classic flow, and the one required for the test suite:

$ ./autogen.sh          # git checkout only: regenerate configure, Makefiles
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Useful ./configure flags:

Flag Effect
--enable-debug Runtime debug output (-v / dbg() messages).
--enable-asan / --enable-tsan AddressSanitizer / ThreadSanitizer builds.
--with-netmap=DIR Build netmap support against an out-of-tree netmap checkout.
--enable-static-link / --enable-dynamic-link Force static or dynamic linking.
--with-testnic=NIC NIC used by the live-traffic test suite.

From a package manager

Many distributions package Tcpreplay. These are often a release or two behind; build from source if you need the newest features or a security fix.

$ sudo apt install tcpreplay

$ sudo dnf install tcpreplay

$ brew install tcpreplay

Verify the install

$ tcpreplay --version
tcpreplay version: 4.6.0 ...

You're ready for the Quickstart.

Verifying a release download

Official release tarballs are published on the GitHub releases page with a detached PGP signature (.asc) alongside each archive:

$ gpg --verify tcpreplay-4.6.0.tar.xz.asc tcpreplay-4.6.0.tar.xz

A Good signature from the Tcpreplay release key confirms the archive is authentic and unmodified.