NetworkProtocolDictionary/README.md

Network Protocol Dictionary
===

This is a YAML network protocol dictionary for all (binary based) OSI-Layer 1-4 protocols, eg. Ethernet, IP, TCP, UDP, etc.

- What this dictionary should be:
  - A complete **machine readable** *structure definition* dictionary for all binary based network protocols
  - Addon: some protocol documentation from wikipedia or RFCs for display use.
  - A reference for building a network packet from scratch in an application, mostly for applications dealing with network packets.

- What it is clearly **NOT**:
  - Currently: complete.
  - A replacement for reading RFCs: Dependencies and constraints are **NOT** defined in this dictionary
  - A source for implementing network stacks


Why?
----
I have a project where I want to use a non platform dependent source for network protocol structures so I want to avoid using the defined structures in the OS includes which depend on the operating system used at program execution.
Simple, isn't it?


How to add a new protocol
----

Requirements:
- Python 3.5
  - jsonschema
  - PyYaml
- (the old kwalify schemas are still present, but deprecated.)

Howto:
- Clone.
- Check structure-schema.yml.  
- Write protocol file in ./protocols/osi[layer]/[protocolname].yml.
- Validate structure with 'python validate.py -f [path/to/protocolname].yml' or all at once with 'python validate.py --all'
- Set up a merge request.
- Be happy.

How to use this dictionary
----

Currently not recommended, because the project lacks deeper tests than just schema validation. ;)

- Clone.
- Get a YAML library for your program language. Or get a converter for JSON or XML, to use these markup languages.
- Load desired protocol files, or all of them.
- Use resulting data structures to build protocol packet structures.

This repository will provide examples or useable code snippets for specific programming languages in the future...