start capture grayed out wireshark ubuntu 16.04

'The installation method can be changed any time by running: There is a short, non-obvious note buried in the /usr/share/ doc/wireshark- common: That is a lot to ask of anyone who isn't a wireshark package maintainer. It seems the user is expected to somehow guess that wireshark will only capture for non-root users if dpkg/synaptic is run manually to configure the wireshark-common package. I just purged and re-installed to be sure. However, those commands are only run if the debconf database contains a wireshark- common/ install- setuid entry that is is not 'false', and in ubuntu, no such entry is created upon installation. Setcap cap_net_ raw,cap_ net_admin= eip /usr/bin/dumpcap

The wireshark-common postinst script is now capable of running these commands: The debian change is indeed present in lucid. ProcVersionSign ature: Ubuntu 2.6.31- 17.54-generic InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 'Karmic Koala' - Release amd64 (20091027) I propose that this mechanism is implemented for the Ubuntu wireshark package, so that normal users (after having been added to the wireshark group) can capture packets out of the box, without warnings about running as root. I can now capture packets as a normal user, without having to run wireshark as root. I've tested the instructions under 'limiting capture permissions to only one group', and they work perfectly. Furthermore, the wireshark documentation says so too, and provides several ways of running wireshark as a non-root user: wiki.wireshark. I agree that running a complex tool like wireshark as root is not a good idea. It either doesn't work, or complains about running as root. Apparently Ubuntu currently provides no way to run wireshark correctly out of the box. This message is confusing and inconsistent.

Apparently, you are not meant to run wireshark as root. However, if you run wireshark as root, it complains: 'Running as user 'root' and group 'root'.

If that really is the case it should be installed in the menu with gksu, just like all the other tools in the menu that need root privileges. According to bug #287099, wireshark needs to be run as root. If I run wireshark as a normal user, I can't select a capture interface and it doesn't work.

Start capture grayed out wireshark ubuntu 16.04