[libnftnl] documentation?

[libnftnl] documentation?

[ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠]

Been trying to find some documentation in these places:

* https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/
* https://www.netfilter.org/documentation/
* https://git.netfilter.org/libnftnl/tree/
*
https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Portal:DeveloperDocs/nftables_internals

but either I missed it - and thus appreciate a pointer - or there is none?

The aim/goal is to utilise libnftnl with json.

Re: [libnftnl] documentation?

[Frank Myhr]

On 2020/03/26 04:38, ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ wrote:
> Been trying to find some documentation in these places:
> 
> * https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/
> * https://www.netfilter.org/documentation/
> * https://git.netfilter.org/libnftnl/tree/
> *
> https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Portal:DeveloperDocs/nftables_internals 
> 
> 
> but either I missed it - and thus appreciate a pointer - or there is none?
> 
> The aim/goal is to utilise libnftnl with json.

Do these help you?:
https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables.adoc
https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables-json.adoc

AFAIK libnftnl=libnftables, the older name just persists (confusingly) 
in many places.

Best regards,
Frank

Re: [libnftnl] documentation?

[ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠]

On 26/03/2020 09:32, Frank Myhr wrote:
> On 2020/03/26 04:38, ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ wrote:
>> Been trying to find some documentation in these places:
>>
>> * https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/
>> * https://www.netfilter.org/documentation/
>> * https://git.netfilter.org/libnftnl/tree/
>> *
>> https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Portal:DeveloperDocs/nftables_internals
>>
>>
>> but either I missed it - and thus appreciate a pointer - or there is
>> none?
>>
>> The aim/goal is to utilise libnftnl with json.
>
> Do these help you?:
> https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables.adoc
> https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables-json.adoc
>
> AFAIK libnftnl=libnftables, the older name just persists (confusingly)
> in many places.
>
> Best regards,
> Frank

Indeed, thank you. Probably missed it, as pointed out, due to the (old)
naming.

Re: [libnftnl] documentation?

[Florian Westphal]

Frank Myhr <fmyhr@fhmtech.com> wrote:
> On 2020/03/26 04:38, ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ wrote:
> > Been trying to find some documentation in these places:
> > 
> > * https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/
> > * https://www.netfilter.org/documentation/
> > * https://git.netfilter.org/libnftnl/tree/
> > *
> > https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Portal:DeveloperDocs/nftables_internals
> > 
> > 
> > but either I missed it - and thus appreciate a pointer - or there is none?
> > 
> > The aim/goal is to utilise libnftnl with json.
> 
> Do these help you?:
> https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables.adoc
> https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables-json.adoc
> 
> AFAIK libnftnl=libnftables, the older name just persists (confusingly) in
> many places.

No, these are different libraries. libnftnl is a standalone library
with low-level helpers.

libnftables is the highlevel library, its part of nftables itself.

libnftables contains the ruleset parser, for example.

Re: [libnftnl] documentation?

[ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠]

On 26/03/2020 09:45, Florian Westphal wrote:
> Frank Myhr <fmyhr@fhmtech.com> wrote:
>> On 2020/03/26 04:38, ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ wrote:
>>> Been trying to find some documentation in these places:
>>>
>>> * https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/
>>> * https://www.netfilter.org/documentation/
>>> * https://git.netfilter.org/libnftnl/tree/
>>> *
>>> https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Portal:DeveloperDocs/nftables_internals
>>>
>>>
>>> but either I missed it - and thus appreciate a pointer - or there is none?
>>>
>>> The aim/goal is to utilise libnftnl with json.
>> Do these help you?:
>> https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables.adoc
>> https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables-json.adoc
>>
>> AFAIK libnftnl=libnftables, the older name just persists (confusingly) in
>> many places.
> No, these are different libraries. libnftnl is a standalone library
> with low-level helpers.
>
> libnftables is the highlevel library, its part of nftables itself.
>
> libnftables contains the ruleset parser, for example.
Bit confusing as
https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Building_and_installing_nftables_from_sources
states

"libnftnl (formerly known as libnftables)"

Similar https://lwn.net/Articles/789528/

"The library libnftnl has been previously known as libnftables."

libnftnl then cannot parse json but "Is responsible for creating/parsing
the nf_tables netlink messages"?

Re: [libnftnl] documentation?

[Pablo Neira Ayuso]

On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 09:58:04AM +0000, ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ wrote:
> On 26/03/2020 09:45, Florian Westphal wrote:
> > Frank Myhr <fmyhr@fhmtech.com> wrote:
> > > On 2020/03/26 04:38, ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ wrote:
> > > > Been trying to find some documentation in these places:
> > > > 
> > > > * https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/
> > > > * https://www.netfilter.org/documentation/
> > > > * https://git.netfilter.org/libnftnl/tree/
> > > > *
> > > > https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Portal:DeveloperDocs/nftables_internals
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > but either I missed it - and thus appreciate a pointer - or there is none?
> > > > 
> > > > The aim/goal is to utilise libnftnl with json.
> > > Do these help you?:
> > > https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables.adoc
> > > https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables-json.adoc
> > > 
> > > AFAIK libnftnl=libnftables, the older name just persists (confusingly) in
> > > many places.
> > No, these are different libraries. libnftnl is a standalone library
> > with low-level helpers.
> > 
> > libnftables is the highlevel library, its part of nftables itself.
> > 
> > libnftables contains the ruleset parser, for example.
> Bit confusing as
> https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Building_and_installing_nftables_from_sources
> states
> 
> "libnftnl (formerly known as libnftables)"

I have just removed this. This is a very old reference.

These days:

* libnftnl is the low-level netlink library.
* libnftables is the high-level library, this one supports json.

> Similar https://lwn.net/Articles/789528/
> 
> "The library libnftnl has been previously known as libnftables."

I'll remove this in the template I have for future libnftnl releases.

> libnftnl then cannot parse json but "Is responsible for creating/parsing
> the nf_tables netlink messages"?

Yes.

Re: [libnftnl] documentation?

[Florian Westphal]

ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ <vtol@gmx.net> wrote:
> On 26/03/2020 09:45, Florian Westphal wrote:
> > Frank Myhr <fmyhr@fhmtech.com> wrote:
> > > On 2020/03/26 04:38, ѽ҉ᶬḳ℠ wrote:
> > > > Been trying to find some documentation in these places:
> > > > 
> > > > * https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/
> > > > * https://www.netfilter.org/documentation/
> > > > * https://git.netfilter.org/libnftnl/tree/
> > > > *
> > > > https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Portal:DeveloperDocs/nftables_internals
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > but either I missed it - and thus appreciate a pointer - or there is none?
> > > > 
> > > > The aim/goal is to utilise libnftnl with json.
> > > Do these help you?:
> > > https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables.adoc
> > > https://git.netfilter.org/nftables/tree/doc/libnftables-json.adoc
> > > 
> > > AFAIK libnftnl=libnftables, the older name just persists (confusingly) in
> > > many places.
> > No, these are different libraries. libnftnl is a standalone library
> > with low-level helpers.
> > 
> > libnftables is the highlevel library, its part of nftables itself.
> > 
> > libnftables contains the ruleset parser, for example.
> Bit confusing as
> https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Building_and_installing_nftables_from_sources
> states
> 
> "libnftnl (formerly known as libnftables)"

Yes, agree, this is confusing.  This old libnftables *was* renamed
to libnftnl.  At that point, no high-level library existed yet.

And it seemed better to give the name 'libnftables' to a highlevel
library.

Nowadays, libnftables is the high-level library that contains
most of the nftables functionality, such as parsing (nft rule format
and json).