1.5. Releases And Distributions
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## 1.5. Releases And Distributions

Official Wireshark releases can be found at https://www.wireshark.org/download.html. Minor releases typically happen every six weeks and typically include bug fixes and security updates. Major releases happen about once a year and include new features and new protocol support. Official releases include binary packages for Windows and macOS along with source code.

### 1.5.1. Binary Distributions

The Wireshark development team would like to make it as easy as possible for people to obtain and use Wireshark. This means that we need to support the software installation systems that different operating systems provide. We currently offer the following types of precompiled packages as part of each official release:

- Windows .exe installer. This is an executable file that installs Wireshark, and optionally Npcap and USBPcap, created using NSIS. It is the most popular installation method on Windows.
- Windows PortableApps .paf.exe file. This is a self-contained package that can be run from anywhere, either standalone or under the PortableApps.com Platform.
- Windows .msi installer. This installs Wireshark using Microsoft’s Installer Database, created using the WiX toolset. It does not yet include Npcap or USBPcap and is somewhat experimental.
- macOS .dmg. This is a disk image which includes a drag-installable Wireshark application bundle along with utility packages for installing ChmodBPF and adding Wireshark to your PATH environment variable.

Most Linux and UNIX distributions have their own packaging systems which usually include Wireshark. The Wireshark sources include support for creating the following types of packages:

- Debian .deb files. Packaging assets can be found in the debian directory in the Wireshark sources.
- Red Hat .rpm files. Packaging assets can be found in the packaging/rpm directory in the Wireshark sources.

You can also create your own binary packages. See Section 3.11, “Binary Packaging” for details.

### 1.5.2. The Source Code Distribution

Wireshark is and will always be open source. You’re welcome to download a source tarball, build it, and modify it under the terms of the GPLv2. However, it’s usually much easier to use a binary package if you want to get up and running quickly in a production environment.

Source tarballs are commonly used for building the binary packages for UNIX and UNIX-like platforms. However, if you are going to modify the Wireshark sources, e.g. to contribute changes back or to develop an in-house version of Wireshark we recommend that you use the latest Git sources. For details about the different ways to get the Wireshark source code see Section 3.4, “Obtaining The Wireshark Sources”.

Before building Wireshark from a source distribution, make sure you have all the tools and libraries required to build. Later chapters describe the required tools and libraries in detail.

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