NAME
    NetPacket - assemble/disassemble network packets at the protocol level

VERSION
    version 1.5.0

SYNOPSIS
        # NetPacket is a base class only

DESCRIPTION
    "NetPacket" provides a base class for a cluster of modules related to
    decoding and encoding of network protocols. Each "NetPacket" descendent
    module knows how to encode and decode packets for the network protocol
    it implements. Consult the documentation for the module in question for
    protocol-specific implementation.

    Note that there is no inheritance in the "NetPacket::" cluster of
    modules other than each protocol module being a "NetPacket". This was
    seen to be too restrictive as imposing inheritance relationships (for
    example between the IP, UDP and TCP protocols) would make things like
    tunneling or other unusual situations difficult.

WRITING YOUR OWN "NetPacket::" MODULE
    You are encouraged to write additional "NetPacket::" modules as well as
    improve existing ones. Contact the maintainer of the module in question
    with your suggestions or changes.

    The following sections are a list of suggestions and conventions for
    writing a "NetPacket::" module.

  Naming Conventions
    When creating a module in the "NetPacket::" namespace, it is suggested
    that you stick to a couple of conventions when naming packet contents.
    This will hopefully lead to a consistent namespace making the
    "NetPacket::" easier to use.

    Content names are all lowercase, with underscores separating multiple
    words. The following abbreviations are recommended:

                Word                Abbreviation
                --------------------------------
                source              src
                destination         dest
                checksum            cksum
                identifier          id
                version             ver
                protocol            proto

  Required Methods
    encode(), decode(), strip()

  Required Fields
    Every NetPacket:: object should have the following fields.

    _parent
        A link to the parent "NetPacket::" object in which this
        "NetPacket::" object is encaulated. This field is undefined if there
        is no parent object.

    _frame
        A copy of the raw data of the packet.

    data
        This field should contain the data encapsulated in the packet (i.e
        any headers or trailers stripped off) or undef if the packet
        contains no data. Note that in this sense, "data" is taken to mean
        information not relevant to the particular protocol being decoded.
        For example, an ARP packet contains many header fields but no data.
        A UDP datagram, however contains header fields and a payload.

SEE ALSO
    Joel Knight has a patch for NetPacket for IPv6 support available at
    http://www.packetmischief.ca/code/netpacket/.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    Copyright (c) 2001 Tim Potter and Stephanie Wehner.

    Copyright (c) 1995,1996,1997,1998,1999 ANU and CSIRO on behalf of the
    participants in the CRC for Advanced Computational Systems ('ACSys').

    This module is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0.

    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of
    merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

AUTHORS
    Tim Potter <tpot@samba.org>

    Stephanie Wehner <atrak@itsx.com>

    Yanick Champoux <yanick@cpan.org>