moremagic:~# ifconfig eth0 eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:05:26:A8:69 inet addr:192.168.204.1 Bcast:192.168.204.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:261371 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:491259 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 Interrupt:10 Base address:0x340 moremagic:~# LC_ALL=C tcpdump -i eth0 tcpdump: socket: Socket type not supported moremagic:~# uname -a Linux moremagic.magic.metawire.com 2.1.131 #20 jeu dic 3 22:20:18 PST 1998 i586 unknown I can't say if how recently it's been broken. As far as I can remember, I never got it to work with a 2.1.x kernel (x>104)
You need to enable packet protocol in the kernel. From the Configure.help: CONFIG_PACKET The Packet protocol is used by applications which communicate directly with network devices without an intermediate network protocol implemented in the kernel, e.g. tcpdump. If you want them to work, choose Y. This driver is also available as a module called af_packet.o ( = code which can be inserted in and removed from the running kernel whenever you want). If you want to compile it as a module, say M here and read Documentation/modules.txt. If unsure, say Y.
Thanks for the pointer. I had compiled this in, but as a module and when I checked again after your answer I realized that modprobe couldn't load the module automatically. What's a bit annoying is that "can't locate module net-pf-17" is only logged at the info level (it used to be at least warning), and thus didn't make it to my console :-( Adding "alias net-pf-17 af_packet" to /etc/conf.module solved the problem. Maybe it'd be a nice idea to have a default file with a few default entries. Anyway the problem was mine, sorry for this bogus report and for wasting your time. You can close this ticket
Closed.