[senf.git] / HowTos / NewPacket / Mainpage.dox

// $Id$
//
// Copyright (C) 2008
// Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS)
// Competence Center NETwork research (NET), St. Augustin, GERMANY
//     Stefan Bund <g0dil@berlios.de>
//
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/** \mainpage Defining and using a new 'libPacket' Packet Type

    This howto will introduce the facilities needed to define a new packet type. As example, the
    \c GREPacket type is defined.

    \autotoc


    \section howto_newpacket_overview Overview

    The packet library supports two basic packet representations, the more generic one being
    senf::Packet. This representation does not know anything about the type of packet, its fields or
    properties. It really only is a bunch of bytes. Possibly there is a preceding packet (header) or
    a following one, but that is all, a senf::Packet knows.

    The second representation is implemented by senf::ConcretePacket. This representation derives
    from senf::Packet and adds information about the packet type, its fields, eventually some
    invariants or packet specific operations etc. In what follows, we will concentrate on this
    latter representation.

    A concrete packet type in senf provides a lot of detailed information about a specific type of
    packet:

    \li It provides access to the packets fields
    \li It may provide additional packet specific functions (e.g. calculating or validating a
        checksum)
    \li It provides information on the nesting of packets
    \li It implements packet invariants

    To define a new packet type, we need to implement two classes which together provide all this
    information:

    \li a \e parser (a class derived from senf::PacketParserBase). This class defines the data
        fields of the packet header and may also provide additional packet specific functionality.
    \li a \e packet \e type (a class derived from senf::PacketTypeBase). This class defines, how
        packets are nested and how to initialize and maintain invariants.

    The following sections describe how to define these classes. Where appropriate, we will use GRE
    (Generic Routing Encapsulation) as an example.

    \section howto_newpacket_gre Introducing the GRE example packet type

    When defining a new packet type, we start out by answering two important questions:

    \li What kind of parser is needed for this packet type (fixed size or variable sized).
    \li Whether the packet has another packet as payload (a nested packet) and how the type of this
        payload is found (whether a registry is used and if yes, which).

    In the case of GRE, these questions can be answered by just looking at the GRE specification in
    <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2784">RFC 2784</a>. In Section 2.1 we find the header
    layout:

    <pre>
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |C|       Reserved0       | Ver |         Protocol Type         |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |      Checksum (optional)      |       Reserved1 (Optional)    |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    </pre>

    This header is followed by the payload data.

    Using this protocol definition, we see that the header incorporates optional fields. Therefore
    it must be dynamically sized: if the \a Checksum \a Present bit \a C is set, both \a Checksum
    and \a Reserved1 are present, otherwise both must be omitted.

    Further inspection of the RFC reveals that the \a Protocol \a Type is used to define the type of
    payload which directly follows the GRE header. This value is an <a
    href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/ethernet-numbers">ETHERTYPE</a> value. To allow the packet
    library to automatically parse the GRE payload data, we need to tell the packet library which
    ETHERTYPE is implemented by which packet type. This kind of association already exists in the
    form of the senf::EtherTypes registry. Our GRE packet will therefore use this registry.

    To summarize:

    \li The GRE packet header is a dynamically sized header.
    \li The GRE packet header uses the senf::EtherTypes registry for next-header selection.


    \section howto_newpacket_parser Implementing the packet parser

    Each parser is responsible for turning a bunch of bytes into an interpreted header with specific
    fields. A parser instance is initialized with an iterator (pointer) to the first byte to be
    interpreted (the first byte of the packet data) and provides member functions to access the
    header fields. You could implement these members manually, but the SENF library provides a large
    set of helper macros which simplify this task considerably.

    \subsection howto_newpacket_parser_skeleton The PacketParser skeleton

    \code
    #include <senf/Packets.hh>

    struct GREPacketParser : public senf::PacketParserBase
    {
    #   include SENF_PARSER()

        // Define fields
        // (see below)

        SENF_PARSER_FINALIZE(GREPacketParser);
    };
    \endcode

    This is the standard skeleton of any parser class: We need to inherit senf::PacketParserBase and
    start out by including either \ref SENF_PARSER() or \ref SENF_FIXED_PARSER(), depending on
    whether we define a fixed size or a dynamically sized parser. As \c GREPacketParser is
    dynamically sized, we include \ref SENF_PARSER().

    The definition of fields will be described in the next subsection.

    After the fields have been defined, we need to call the \ref SENF_PARSER_FINALIZE() macro to
    close of the parser definition. This call takes the name of the parser being defined as it's
    sole argument.

    This is already a valid parser, albeit not a very usable one, since it does not define any
    fields. We now go back to define the parser fields and begin with the simple part: fields which
    are always present.

    \subsection howto_newpacket_parser_simple Simple field definitions

    Packet parser fields are defined using special \ref packetparsermacros. We take the fields
    directly from the packet definition (the GRE RFC in this case). This will give us to the
    following code fragment:

    \code
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD  ( checksumPresent, 1, bool     );
    SENF_PARSER_SKIP_BITS (                 12           );
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD  ( version,         3, unsigned );
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD  ( protocolType,   16, unsigned );
    \endcode

    This is a correct \c GREPacket header definition, but there is room for a small optimization:
    Since the \a protocolType field is exactly 2 bytes wide and is aligned on a byte boundary, we
    can define it as a UInt16 field (instead of a bitfield):

    \code
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD  ( checksumPresent,  1, bool     );
    SENF_PARSER_SKIP_BITS (                  12           );
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD  ( version,          3, unsigned );
    SENF_PARSER_FIELD     ( protocolType,    senf::UInt16Parser );
    \endcode

    Whereas \ref SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD can only define bit-fields, \ref SENF_PARSER_FIELD can define
    almost arbitrary field types. The type is specified by passing the name of another parser to
    \ref SENF_PARSER_FIELD.

    It is important to understand, that the accessors do \e not return the parsed field value.
    Instead, they return another \e parser which is used to further interpret the value. This is due
    to the inherently recursive nature of the SENF packet parsers, that allows us to define rather
    complex header formats if needed. Of course, at some point we will hit bottom and need real
    values. This is, what <em>value parsers</em> do: they interpret some bytes or bits and return
    the value of that field (not a parser). Examples are the bitfield parsers returned by the
    accessors generated by SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD (like senf::UIntFieldParser) or the
    senf::UInt16Parser.

    What is going on inside the macros above? Basically, they define accessor functions for a
    specific field, like \a checksumPresent() or \a protocolType(). They also manage a <em>current
    Offset</em>. This value is advanced according to the field size whenever a new field is defined
    (and since this parser is defined as a dynamically sized parser, this offset is not constant but
    an expression which calculates the offset of a field depending on the preceding data).

    \subsection howto_newpacket_parser_variant Defining optional fields: The 'variant' parser

    The parser is currently very simple, and it could have been defined as a fixed size parser. Now
    for the tricky part: defining parsers the optional fields. The mechanism described here is
    suitable for a single optional field as well as for an optional contiguous sequence of fields.

    In our GRE example, there are two fields which need to be enabled/disabled en bloc. We first
    define an auxiliary sub-parser which combines the two fields.

    \code
    struct GREPacketParser_OptFields : public senf::PacketParserBase
    {
    #   include SENF_FIXED_PARSER()

        // typedef checksum_t uint16_t; XXX defined automatically???

        SENF_PARSER_FIELD ( checksum, senf::UInt16Parser );
        SENF_PARSER_SKIP  (           2                  );

        SENF_PARSER_FINALIZE(GREPacketParser_OptFields);
    };
    \endcode

    This parser only parses the two optional fields, the second ("Reserved1") field just being
    skipped. It is a fixed size parser, as indicated by the SENF_FIXED_PARSER() macro. We can
    now use \ref SENF_PARSER_VARIANT() to add it as an optional parser to the GRE header in our \c
    GREPacketParser implementation (the typedef'ed checksum_t will be used later on):

    \code
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD  ( checksumPresent,  1, bool     );
    SENF_PARSER_SKIP_BITS (                  12           );
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD  ( version,          3, unsigned );

    SENF_PARSER_FIELD     ( protocolType,    senf::UInt16Parser );

    SENF_PARSER_VARIANT   ( optionalFields,  checksumPresent,
                                             (senf::VoidPacketParser)
                                             (GREPacketParser_OptFields) );
    \endcode

    For a variant parser, two things need to be specified: a selector and a list of variant parsers.
    The selector is a distinct parser field that is used to decide which variant to choose. In this
    simple case, the field must be an unsigned integer (more precisely: a value parser returning a
    value which is implicitly convertible to \c unsigned). This value is used as an index into the
    list of variant types. So in our case, the value 0 (zero) is associated with
    senf::VoidPacketParser, whereas the value 1 (one) is associated with \c
    GREPacketParser_OptFields. senf::VoidPacketParser is a special (empty or no-op) parser which is
    used in a variant to denote a case in which the variant parser should not parse anything.

    This parser will work, it is however not very safe and not very usable. If \a p is a
    GREPacketParser instance, than we would access the fields via:
    \code
    p.checksumPresent()                    = true;
    p.version()                            = 4u;
    p.protocolType()                       = 0x86dd;
    p.optionalFields().get<1>().checksum() = 12345u;
    \endcode

    This code has two problems:
    \li accessing the checksum field is quite unwieldy
    \li changing the checksumPresent() value will break the parser

    The second problem is caused by the fact that the variant parser needs to be informed whenever
    the selector (here \a checksumPresent) is changed, since the variant parser must ensure that the
    header data stays consistent. Whenever the checksumPresent field is enabled, the variant parser
    needs to insert additional 4 bytes of data. And it must remove those bytes whenever the
    checksumPresent field is disabled.

    \subsection howto_newpacket_parser_fixvariant Fixing access by providing custom accessor members

    The problems outlined above will happen whenever we use variant parsers, and they will often
    occur with other complex parsers too (most XXX \ref parsercollection reference some field
    external to themselves, and they will break if that value is changed without them knowing about
    it). There might be other reasons to restrict access to a field: the field may be set
    automatically or it may be calculated from other values (we'll see later how to do this).

    In all these cases we will want to disallow the user to directly change the value, while still
    allowing to read the value. To do this, we can mark \e value \e fields as read-only:

    \code
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD_RO ( checksumPresent,  1, bool     );
    \endcode

    \e Value \e fields are fields implemented by parsers returning a simple value (i.e. bit-field,
    integer and some additional parsers like those parsing network addresses) as apposed to complex
    sub-parsers.

    In this case however, we still want to allow the user to change the field value, albeit not
    directly. We will need to go through the collection parser, in this case the variant.

    The syntax for accessing a variant is quite cumbersome. Therefore we adjust the variant
    definition to generate a more usable interface:

    \code
    SENF_PARSER_VARIANT ( optionalFields_, checksumPresent,
                                  (novalue(disable_checksum, senf::VoidPacketParser))
                                  (     id(checksum,         GREPacketParser_OptFields)) );
    \endcode

    Here, we added some optional information to the variants type list.

    With this information, \ref SENF_PARSER_VARIANT() will create some additional \e public accessor
    members and will automatically make the variant itself private. The members generated work like:
    \code
    void disable_checksum() const { optionalFields_().init<0>; }

    typedef GREPacketParser_OptFields checksum_t;
    checksum_t checksum()      const { return optionalFields_().get<1>(); }
    void       init_checksum() const { optionalFields_().init<1>; }
    bool       has_checksum()  const { return optionalFields_().variant() == 1; }
    \endcode
    (Again: We don't implement these fields ourselves, this is done by \ref SENF_PARSER_VARIANT())

    \c disable_checksum() and \c init_checksum() change the selected variant. This will
    automatically change the \c checksumPresent() field accordingly.

    The \c GREPacketParser is now simple and safe to use. The only responsibility of the user now is to
    only access \a checksum() if the \a checksumPresent() field is set. Otherwise, the behavior is
    undefined (in debug builds, the parser will terminate the application with an assert).


    \subsection howto_newpacket_parser_add Providing additional functionality

    We have now implemented parsing all the header fields. However, often packets would benefit from
    additional functionality. In the case of GRE, this could be a function to calculate the checksum
    value if it is enabled. Defining this member will also show, how to safely access the raw packet
    data from a parser member.

    \code
    #include <senf/Utils/IpChecksum.hh>

    checksum_t::checksum_t::value_type calculateChecksum() const
    {
        if (!checksumEnabled())
            return 0;

        senf::IpChecksum cs;
        cs.feed( i(), i(4) );
        // Skip even number of 0 bytes (the 2 bytes checksum field)
        // cs.feed(0); cs.feed(0);
        cs.feed( i(6), data().end() );

        return cs.sum()
    }
    \endcode

    This code just implements what is defined in the RFC: The checksum covers the complete GRE
    packet including it's header with the checksum field temporarily set to 0. Instead of really
    changing the checksum field we manually pass the correct data to \a cs.

    We use the special <tt>i(</tt><i>offset</i><tt>)</tt> helper to get iterators \a offset number
    of bytes into the data. This helper has the additional benefit of range-checking the returned
    iterator and is thereby safe from errors due to truncated packets: If the offset is out of
    range, a TruncatedPacketException will be thrown.

    The \a data() function on the other hand returns a reference to the complete data container of
    the packet under inspection (the GRE packet in this case). Access to \a data() should be
    restricted as much as possible. It is safe when defining new packet parsers (parsers, which
    parser a complete packet like GREPacketParser). It's usage from sub parsers (like
    GREPacketParser_OptFields or even senf::UInt16Parser) would be much more arcane and should be
    avoided.


    \subsection howto_newpacket_parser_final The complete GREPacketParser implementation

    So this is now the complete implementation of the \c GREPacketParser:

    \code
    #include <senf/Packets.hh>

    struct GREPacketParser_OptFields : public senf::PacketParserBase
    {
    #   include SENF_FIXED_PARSER()

        SENF_PARSER_FIELD           ( checksum,        senf::UInt16Parser            );
        SENF_PARSER_SKIP            (                   2                            );

        SENF_PARSER_FINALIZE(GREPacketParser_OptFields);
    };

    struct GREPacketParser : public senf::PacketParserBase
    {
    #   include SENF_PARSER()

        SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD_RO     ( checksumPresent,  1, bool                      );
        SENF_PARSER_SKIP_BITS       (                  12                            );
        SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD        ( version,          3, unsigned                  );

        SENF_PARSER_FIELD           ( protocolType,    senf::UInt16Parser            );

        SENF_PARSER_PRIVATE_VARIANT ( optionalFields_, checksumPresent,
                                          (novalue(disable_checksum, senf::VoidPacketParser))
                                          (     id(checksum,         GREPacketParser_OptFields)) );

        SENF_PARSER_FINALIZE(GREPacketParser);

        checksum_t::checksum_t::value_type calculateChecksum() const;
    };

    // In the implementation (.cc) file:

    #include <senf/Utils/IpChecksum.hh>

    GREPacketParser::checksum_t::value_type GREPacketParser::calculateChecksum() const
    {
        if (!checksumEnabled())
            return 0;

        validate(6);
        senf::IpChecksum cs;
        cs.feed( i(), i()+4 );
        // Skip even number of 0 bytes (the 2 bytes checksum field)
        // cs.feed(0); cs.feed(0);
        cs.feed( i()+6, data().end() );

        return cs.sum()
    }
    \endcode


    \section howto_newpacket_type Defining the packet type

    After defining the packet parser, the <em>packet type</em> must be defined. This class is used
    as a policy and collects all the information necessary to be known about the packet type.

    The <em>packet type</em> class is \e never instantiated. It has only typedef, constants or
    static members.

    \subsection howto_newpacket_type_skeleton The packet type skeleton

    For every type of packet, the <em>packet type</em> class will look roughly the same. If the
    packet uses a registry and is not hopelessly complex, the packet type will almost always
    look like this:

    \code
    #include <senf/Packets.hh>

    struct GREPacketType
        : public senf::PacketTypeBase,
          public senf::PacketTypeMixin<GREPacketType, EtherTypes>
    {
        typedef senf::PacketTypeMixin<GREPacketType, EtherTypes> mixin;
        typedef senf::ConcretePacket<GREPacketType> packet;
        typedef senf::GREPacketParser parser;

        using mixin::nextPacketRange;
        using mixin::nextPacketType;
        using mixin::init;
        using mixin::initSize;

        // Define members here
    };
    \endcode

    We note, that it derives from two classes: senf::PacketTypeBase and
    senf::PacketTypeMixin. senf::PacketTypeBase must be inherited by every packet type class. the
    senf::PacketTypeMixin provides default implementations for some members which are useful for
    most kinds of packets. If a packet type is very complex and these defaults don't work, the mixin
    class can and should be left out. More on this (what the default members do exactly and when the
    mixin can be used) can be found in the senf::PacketTypeMixin documentation.

    Of the typedefs, only \a parser is mandatory. It defines the packet parser to use to interpret
    this type of packet. \a mixin and \a packet are defined to simplify the following
    definitions (More on \a packet and senf::ConcretePacket later).

    The next block of statements imports all the default implementations provided by the mixin
    class:

    \li \a nextPacketRange provides information about where the next packet lives within the GRE
        packet.
    \li \a nextPacketType provides the type of the next packet from information in the GRE packet.
    \li \a init is called to initialize a new GRE packet. This call is forwarded to \c
        GREPacketParser::init.
    \li \a initSize is called to find the size of an empty (newly create) GRE packet. This is also
        provided by GREPacketParser.

    With these default implementations provided by the mixin, only a few additional members are
    needed to complete the \c GREPacketType: \a nextPacketKey, \a finalize, and \a dump.


    \subsection howto_newpacket_type_registry Utilizing the packet registry

    A packet registry maps an arbitrary key value to a type of packet represented by a packet
    factory instance. There may be any number of packet registries. When working with packet
    registries, there are three separate steps:
    \li Using the registry to tell the packet library, what type of packet to instantiate for the
        payload.
    \li Given a payload packet of some type, set the appropriate payload type field in the packet
        header to the correct value (inverse of above).
    \li Adding packets to the registry.

    We want the GRE packet to utilize the senf::EtherTypes registry to find the type of packet
    contained in the GRE payload.  The details have already been taken care of by the
    senf::PacketTypeMixin (it provides the \a nextPacketType member). However, to lookup the packet
    in the registry, the mixin needs to know the key value. To this end, we implement \a
    nextPacketKey(), which is very simple:

    \code
    static key_t nextPacketKey(packet p) { return p->protocolType(); }
    \endcode

    Since all \c GREPacketType members are static, they are passed the packet in question as an
    argument. \a nextPacketKey() just needs to return the value of the correct packet field. And
    since the \c packet type (as defined as a typedef) allows direct access to the packet parser
    using the <tt>-></tt> operator, we can simply access that value.

    The \c key_t return type is a typedef provided by the mixin class. It is taken from the type of
    registry, in this case it is senf::EtherTypes::key_t (which is defined as a 16 bit unsigned
    integer value).

    With this information, the packet library can now find out the type of packet needed to parse
    the GRE payload -- as long as the \a protocolType() is registered with the senf::EtherTypes
    registry. If this is not the case, the packet library will not try to interpret the payload, it
    will return a senf::DataPacket.

    One special case of GRE encapsulation occurs when layer 2 frames and especially ethernet frames
    are carried in the GRE payload. The ETHERTYPE registry normally only contains layer 3 protocols
    (like IP or IPX) however for this special case, the value 0x6558 has been added to the ETHERTYPE
    registry. So we need to add this value to inform the packet library to parse the payload as an
    ethernet packet if the \a protocolType() is 0x6558. This happens in the implementation file (the
    \c .cc file):

    \code
    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/EthernetPacket.hh>

    SENF_PACKET_REGISTRY_REGISTER( senf::EtherTypes, 0x6558, senf::EthernetPacket );
    \endcode

    This macro registers the value 0x6558 in the senf::EtherTypes registry and associates it with
    the packet type senf::EthernetPacket. This macro declares an anonymous static variable, it
    therefore must always be placed in the implementation file and \e never in an include file.

    Additionally, we want the GRE packet to be parsed when present as an IP payload. Therefore we
    additionally need to register GRE in the senf::IpTypes registry. Looking at the <a
    href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/protocol-numbers">IP protocol numbers</a>, we find that
    GRE has been assigned the value 47:

    \code
    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/IPv4Packet.hh>

    SENF_PACKET_REGISTRY_REGISTER( senf::IpTypes, 47, GREPacket );
    \endcode

    But wait -- what is \c GREPacket ? This question is answered a few section further down.

    The last thing we need to do is, we need to set the \a protocolType() field to the correct value
    when packets are newly created or changed. This is done within \a finalize:

    \code
    static void finalize(packet p) { p->protocolType() << key(p.next(senf::nothrow)); }
    \endcode

    The \c key() function is provided by the mixin class: It will lookup the \e type of a packet in
    the registry and return that packets key in the registry. If the key cannot be found, the return
    value is such that the assignment is effectively skipped.


    \subsection howto_newpacket_type_invariants Providing packet invariants

    Many packets have some invariants that must hold: The payload size must be equal to some field,
    a checksum must match and so on. When packets are newly created or changed, these invariants
    have to be updated to be correct. This is the responsibility of the \a finalize() member.

    \code
    static void finalize(packet p)
    {
        p->protocolType() << key(p.next(senf::nothrow));
        if (p->checksumPresent())
            p->checksum() << p->calculateChecksum();
    }
    \endcode

    We already used finalize above to set the \a protocolType() field. Now we add code to update the
    \a checksum() field if present (this always needs to be done last since the checksum depends on
    the other field values).

    Here we are using the more generic parser assignment expressed using the \c << operator. This
    operator in the most cases works like an ordinary assignment, however it can also be used to
    assign parsers to each other efficiently and it supports 'optional values' (as provided by <a
    href="http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/release/libs/optional/index.html">Boost.Optional</a> and 
    as returned by \c key()).


    \subsection howto_newpacket_type_dump Writing out a complete packet: The 'dump()' member

    For diagnostic purposes, every packet should provide a meaningful \a dump() member which writes
    out the complete packet. This member is simple to implement and is often very helpful when
    tracking down problems.

    \code
    #include <boost/io/ios_state.hpp>

    static void dump(packet p, std::ostream & os)
    {
        boost::io::ios_all_saver ias(os);
        os << "General Routing Encapsulation:\n"
           << "  checksum present              : " << p->checksumPresent() ? "true" : "false" << "\n"
           << "  version                       : " << p->version() << "\n"
           << "  protocol type                 : 0x" << std::hex << std::setw(4) << std::setfill('0')
                                                     << p->protocolType() << "\n";
        if (p->checksumPresent())
            os << "  checksum                     : 0x" << std::hex << std::setw(4)
                                                        << std::setfill('0') << p->checksum() << "\n";
    }
    \endcode

    This member is quite straight forward. We should try to adhere to the formating standard shown
    above: The first line should be the type of packet/header being dumped followed by one line for
    each protocol field. The colon's should be aligned at column 33 with the field name indented by
    2 spaces.

    The \c boost::ios_all_saver is just used to ensure, that the stream formatting state is restored
    correctly at the end of the method. An instance of this type will save the stream state when
    constructed and will restore that state when destructed.

    \subsection howto_newpacket_type_final Final touches

    The \c GREPacket implementation is now almost complete. The only thing missing is the \c
    GREPacket itself. \c GREPacket is just a typedef for a specific senf::ConcretePacket template
    instantiation. Here the complete GREPacket definition:

    \code
    #include <senf/Packets.hh>

    struct GREPacketType
        : public senf::PacketTypeBase,
          public senf::PacketTypeMixin<GREPacketType, EtherTypes>
    {
        typedef senf::PacketTypeMixin<GREPacketType, EtherTypes> mixin;
        typedef senf::ConcretePacket<GREPacketType> packet;
        typedef senf::GREPacketParser parser;

        using mixin::nextPacketRange;
        using mixin::nextPacketType;
        using mixin::init;
        using mixin::initSize;

        static key_t nextPacketKey(packet p) { return p->protocolType(); }

        static void finalize(packet p) {
            p->protocolType() << key(p.next(senf::nothrow));
            if (p->checksumPresent()) p->checksum() << p->calculateChecksum();
       }

        static void dump(packet p, std::ostream & os);
    };

    typedef GREPacketType::packet GREPacket;

    // In the implementation (.cc) file:

    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/EthernetPacket.hh>
    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/IPv4Packet.hh>

    SENF_PACKET_REGISTRY_REGISTER( senf::EtherTypes, 0x6558, senf::EthernetPacket );
    SENF_PACKET_REGISTRY_REGISTER( senf::IpTypes, 47, GREPacket );

    void GREPacketType::dump(packet p, std::ostream & os)
    {
        boost::io::ios_all_saver ias(os);
        os << "General Routing Encapsulation:\n"
           << "  checksum present              : " << p->checksumPresent() ? "true" : "false" << "\n"
           << "  version                       : " << p->version() << "\n"
           << "  protocol type                 : 0x" << std::hex << std::setw(4) << std::setfill('0')
                                                     << p->protocolType() << "\n";
        if (p->checksumPresent())
            os << "  checksum                     : 0x" << std::hex << std::setw(4)
                                                        << std::setfill('0') << p->checksum() << "\n";
    }
    \endcode


    \section howto_newpacket_advanced Going further

    \subsection howto_newpacket_advanced_valid Checking the GRE packet for validity

    We now know how to define packets, but there is more. In this section we will explore the
    features available to make the packet chaining more flexible. We will show, how to implement
    more complex logic than simple registry lookup to find the nested packet (the payload) type.

    In our concrete example, reading the RFC we find there are some restrictions which a GRE packet
    needs to obey to be considered valid. If the packet is not valid it cannot be parsed and should
    be dropped. We can't drop it here but if the packet is invalid, we certainly must refrain from
    trying to parser any payload since we cannot assume the packet to have the format we assume our
    GRE packet to have.

    There are two conditions defined in the RFC which render a GRE packet invalid: If one of the \a
    reserved0() fields first 5 bits is set or if the version is not 0. We will add a \a valid()
    check to the parser and utilize this check in the packet type.

    So first lets update the parser. We will need to change the fields a little bit so we have
    access to the first 5 bits of \a reserved0. We therefore replace the first three field
    statements with

    \code
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD_RO      ( checksumPresent,  1, bool                      );
    SENF_PARSER_PRIVATE_BITFIELD ( reserved0_5bits_, 5, unsigned                  );
    SENF_PARSER_SKIP_BITS        (                   7                            );
    SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD_RO      ( version,          3, unsigned                  );
    \endcode

    We have added an additional private bitfield \a reserved0_5bits_() and we made the \a version()
    field read-only.

    We will now add a simple additional member to the parser:

    \code
    bool valid() const { return version() == 0 && reserved0_5bits_() == 0; }
    \endcode

    I think, this is quite straight forward: \a valid() will just check the restrictions as defined
    in the RFC.

    Now to the packet type. We want to refrain from parsing the payload if the packet is
    invalid. This is important: If the packet is not valid, we have no idea, whether the payload is
    what we surmise it to be (if any of the \a reserved0_5bits_() are set, the packet is from an
    older GRE RFC and the header is quite a bit longer so the payload will be incorrect).

    So we need to change the logic which is used by the packet library to find the type of the next
    packet. We have two ways to do this: We keep using the default \c nextPacketType()
    implementation as provided by the senf::PacketTypeMixin and have our \a nextPacketKey()
    implementation return a key value which is guaranteed never to be registered in the registry.

    The more flexible possibility is implementing \c nextPacketType() ourselves. In this case, the
    first method would suffice, but we will choose to go the second route to show how to write the
    \c nextPacketType() member. We therefore remove the \c using declaration of \c nextPacketType()
    and also remove the \a nextPacketKey() implementation. Instead we add the following to the
    packet type

    \code
    // disabled: using mixin::nextPacketType;

    factory_t nextPacketType(packet p) { return p->valid() ? lookup(p->protocolType()) : no_factory(); }
    \endcode

    As we see, this is still quite simple. \c factory_t is provided by senf::PacketTypeBase. For our
    purpose it is an opaque type which somehow enables the packet library to create a new packet of
    a specified packet type. The \c factory_t has a special value, \c no_factory() which stands for
    the absence of any concrete factory. In a boolean context this (and only this) \c factory_t
    value tests \c false.

    The \c lookup() member is provided by the senf::PacketTypeMixin. It looks up the key passed as
    argument in the registry and returns the factory or \c no_factory(), if the key was not found in
    the registry.

    In this case this is all. But let's elaborate on this example. What if we need to return some
    specific factory from \a nextPacketType(), e.g. what, if we want to handle the case of
    transparent ethernet bridging explicitly instead of registering the value in the
    senf::EtherTypes registry ? Here one way to do this:

    \code
    factory_t nextPacketType(packet p) {
        if (p->valid()) {
            if (p->protocolType() == 0x6558)  return senf::EthernetPacket::factory();
            else                              return lookup(p->protocolType());
        }
        else                                  return no_factory();
    }
    \endcode

    As can be seen above, every packet type has a (static) \a factory() member which returns the
    factory for this type of packet.


    \subsection howto_newpacket_advanced_init Non-trivial packet initialization

    Every packet when created is automatically initialized with 0 bytes (all data bytes will be
    0). In the case of GRE this is enough. But other packets will need other more complex
    initialization to be performed.

    Lets just for the sake of experiment assume, the GRE packet would have to set \a version() to 1
    not 0. In this case, the default initialization would not suffice. It is however very simple to
    explicitly initialize the packet. The initialization happens within the parser. We just add

    \code
    SENF_PARSER_INIT() { version_() << 1u; }
    \endcode

    to \c GREPacketParser. For every read-only defined field, the macros automatically define a \e
    private read-write accessor which may be used internally. This read-write accessor is used here
    to initialize the value.


    \section howto_newpacket_final The ultimate GRE packet implementation completed

    So here we now have \c GREPacket finally complete in all it's glory. First the header file \c
    GREPacket.hh:

    \code
    #ifndef HH_GREPacket_
    #define HH_GREPacket_

    #include <senf/Packets.hh>

    struct GREPacketParser_OptFields : public senf::PacketParserBase
    {
    #   include SENF_FIXED_PARSER()

        SENF_PARSER_FIELD           ( checksum,        senf::UInt16Parser            );
        SENF_PARSER_SKIP            (                   2                            );

        SENF_PARSER_FINALIZE(GREPacketParser_OptFields);
    };

    struct GREPacketParser : public senf::PacketParserBase
    {
    #   include SENF_PARSER()

        SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD_RO      ( checksumPresent,  1, bool                      );
        SENF_PARSER_PRIVATE_BITFIELD ( reserved0_5bits_, 5, unsigned                  );
        SENF_PARSER_SKIP_BITS        (                   7                            );
        SENF_PARSER_BITFIELD_RO      ( version,          3, unsigned                  );

        SENF_PARSER_FIELD            ( protocolType,    senf::UInt16Parser            );

        SENF_PARSER_PRIVATE_VARIANT ( optionalFields_, checksumPresent,
                                          (novalue(disable_checksum, senf::VoidPacketParser))
                                          (     id(checksum,         GREPacketParser_OptFields)) );

        bool valid() const { return version() == 0 && reserved0_5bits_() == 0; }

        SENF_PARSER_FINALIZE(GREPacketParser);

        checksum_t::checksum_t::value_type calculateChecksum() const;
    };

    struct GREPacketType
        : public senf::PacketTypeBase,
          public senf::PacketTypeMixin<GREPacketType, EtherTypes>
    {
        typedef senf::PacketTypeMixin<GREPacketType, EtherTypes> mixin;
        typedef senf::ConcretePacket<GREPacketType> packet;
        typedef senf::GREPacketParser parser;

        using mixin::nextPacketRange;
        using mixin::init;
        using mixin::initSize;

        factory_t nextPacketType(packet p)
            { return p->valid() ? lookup(p->protocolType()) : no_factory(); }

        static void finalize(packet p) {
            p->protocolType() << key(p.next(senf::nothrow));
            if (p->checksumPresent()) p->checksum() << p->calculateChecksum();
        }

        static void dump(packet p, std::ostream & os);
    };

    typedef GREPacketType::packet GREPacket;

    #endif
    \endcode

    And the implementation file \c GREPacket.cc:

    \code
    #include "GREPacket.hh"
    #include <senf/Utils/IpChecksum.hh>
    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/EthernetPacket.hh>
    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/IPv4Packet.hh>

    SENF_PACKET_REGISTRY_REGISTER( senf::EtherTypes, 0x6558, senf::EthernetPacket );
    SENF_PACKET_REGISTRY_REGISTER( senf::IpTypes, 47, GREPacket );

    GREPacketParser::checksum_t::checksum_t::value_type GREPacketParser::calculateChecksum() const
    {
        if (!checksumEnabled())
            return 0;

        validate(6);
        senf::IpChecksum cs;
        cs.feed( i(), i()+4 );
        // Skip even number of 0 bytes (the 2 bytes checksum field)
        // cs.feed(0); cs.feed(0);
        cs.feed( i()+6, data().end() );

        return cs.sum()
    }

    void GREPacketType::dump(packet p, std::ostream & os)
    {
        boost::io::ios_all_saver ias(os);
        os << "General Routing Encapsulation:\n"
           << "  checksum present              : " << p->checksumPresent() ? "true" : "false" << "\n"
           << "  version                       : " << p->version() << "\n"
           << "  protocol type                 : 0x" << std::hex << std::setw(4) << std::setfill('0')
                                                     << p->protocolType() << "\n";
        if (p->checksumPresent())
            os << "  checksum                     : 0x" << std::hex << std::setw(4)
                                                        << std::setfill('0') << p->checksum() << "\n";
    }
    \endcode


    \section howto_newpacket_using Using the newly created GRE packet type

    The GRE packet is now fully integrated into the packet library framework. For example, we can
    read GRE packets from a raw INet socket and forward decapsulated Ethernet frames to a packet
    socket.

    \code
    #include <iostream>
    #include <senf/Packets.hh>
    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/EthernetPacket.hh>
    #include <senf/Socket/Protocols/INet/RawINetProtocol.hh>
    #include <senf/Socket/Protocols/Raw/PacketSocketHandle.hh>
    #include "GREPacket.hh"

    int main(int, char const **)
    {
        senf::RawV6ClientSocketHandle isock (47u); // 47 = Read GRE packets
        senf::PacketSocketHandle osock;

        while (true) {
            try {
                GREPacket gre (GREPacket::create(senf::noinit));
                isock.read(gre.data(),0u);
                if (gre->checksumPresent() && gre->checksum() != gre->calculateChecksum())
                    throw InvalidPacketChainException();
                osock.write(gre.next<EthernetPacket>().data())
            }
            catch (senf::TruncatedPacketException & ex) {
                std::cerr << "Malformed packet dropped\n";
            }
            catch (senf::InvalidPacketChainException & ex) {
                std::cerr << "Invalid GRE packet dropped\n";
            }
        }
    }
    \endcode

    Or we can do the opposite: Read ethernet packets from a \c tap device and send them out GRE
    encapsulated.

    \code
    #include <iostream>
    #include <senf/Packets.hh>
    #include <senf/Packets/DefaultBundle/EthernetPacket.hh>
    #include <senf/Socket/Protocols/INet/RawINetProtocol.hh>
    #include <senf/Socket/Protocols/Raw/TunTapSocketHandle.hh>
    #include "GREPacket.hh"

    int main(int argc, char const ** argv)
    {
        if (argc != 2) {
            std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " <tunnel endpoint>\n";
            return 1;
        }

        senf::TapSocketHandle tap ("tap0");
        senf::ConnectedRawV6ClientSocketHandle osock (47u, senf::INet6SocketAddress(argv[1]));

        while (true) {
            senf::EthernetPacket eth (senf::EthernetPacket::create(senf::noinit));
            isock.read(eth.data(),0u);
            GREPacket gre (senf::GREPacket::createBefore(eth));
            gre.finalizeAll();
            osock.write(gre.data());
        }
    }
    \endcode


    \section howto_newpacket_further Further reading

    Lets start with references to the important API's (Use the <i>List of all members</i> link to
    get the complete API of one of the classes and templates):

    <table class="senf fixedcolumn">

    <tr><td>senf::ConcretePacket</td> <td>this is the API provided by the packet handles.</td></tr>

    <tr><td>senf::PacketData</td> <td>this API provides raw data access accessible via the handles
    'data' member.</td></tr>

    <tr><td>senf::PacketParserBase</td> <td>this is the generic parser API. This API is accessible
    via the packets \c -> operator or via the sub-parsers returned by the field accessors.</td></tr>

    </table>

    When implementing new packet's, the following information will be helpful:

    <table class="senf fixedcolumn">

    <tr><td>senf::PacketTypeBase</td> <td>here you find a description of the members which need to
    be implemented to provide a 'packet type'. Most of these members will normally be provided by
    the mixin helper.</td></tr>

    <tr><td>senf::PacketTypeMixin</td> <td>here you find all about the packet type mixin and how to
    use it.</td></tr>

    <tr><td>\ref packetparser</td> <td>This section describes the packet parser facility.</td></tr>

    <tr><td>\link packetparsermacros Packet parser macros\endlink</td> <td>A complete list and
    documentation of all the packet parser macros.</td></tr>

    <tr><td>\ref parseint, \n \ref parsecollection</td> <td>There are several lists of available
    reusable packet parsers. However, these lists are not complete as there are other protocol
    specific reusable parsers (without claiming to be exhaustive: senf::INet4AddressParser,
    senf::INet6AddressParser, senf::MACAddressParser)</td></tr>

    </table>

 */

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