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+
+===================
+Writing Bro Plugins
+===================
+
+Bro is internally moving to a plugin structure that enables extending
+the system dynamically, without modifying the core code base. That way
+custom code remains self-contained and can be maintained, compiled,
+and installed independently. Currently, plugins can add the following
+functionality to Bro:
+
+    - Bro scripts.
+
+    - Builtin functions/events/types for the scripting language.
+
+    - Protocol and file analyzers.
+
+    - Packet sources and packet dumpers. TODO: Not yet.
+
+    - Logging framework backends. TODO: Not yet.
+
+    - Input framework readers. TODO: Not yet.
+
+A plugin's functionality is available to the user just as if Bro had
+the corresponding code built-in. Indeed, internally many of Bro's
+pieces are structured as plugins as well, they are just statically
+compiled into the binary rather than loaded dynamically at runtime, as
+external plugins are.
+
+Quick Start
+===========
+
+Writing a basic plugin is quite straight-forward as long as one
+follows a few conventions. In the following we walk through adding a
+new built-in function (bif) to Bro; we'll add `a `rot13(s: string) :
+string``, a function that rotates every character in a string by 13
+places.
+
+A plugin comes in the form of a directory following a certain
+structure. To get started, Bro's distribution provides a helper script
+``aux/bro-aux/plugin-support/init-plugin`` that creates a skeleton
+plugin that can then be customized. Let's use that::
+
+    # mkdir rot13-plugin
+    # cd rot13-plugin
+    # init-plugin Demo Rot13
+
+As you can see the script takes two arguments. The first is a
+namespace the plugin will live in, and the second a descriptive name
+for the plugin itself. Bro uses the combination of the two to identify
+a plugin. The namespace serves to avoid naming conflicts between
+plugins written by independent developers; pick, e.g., the name of
+your organisation (and note that the namespace ``Bro`` is reserved for
+functionality distributed by the Bro Project). In our example, the
+plugin will be called ``Demo::Rot13``.
+
+The ``init-plugin`` script puts a number of files in place. The full
+layout is described later. For now, all we need is
+``src/functions.bif``. It's initially empty, but we'll add our new bif
+there as follows::
+
+    # cat scripts/functions.bif
+    module CaesarCipher;
+
+    function camel_case%(s: string%) : string
+        %{
+        char* rot13 = copy_string(s->CheckString());
+
+        for ( char* p = rot13; *p; p++ )
+            {
+            char b = islower(*p) ? 'a' : 'A';
+            *p  = (*p - b + 13) % 26 + b;
+            }
+
+        return new StringVal(strlen(rot13), rot13);
+        %}
+
+The syntax of this file is just like any other ``*.bif`` file; we
+won't go into it here.
+
+Now we can already compile our plugin, we just need to tell the
+Makefile put in place by ``init-plugin`` where the Bro source tree is
+located (Bro needs to have been built there first)::
+
+    # make BRO=/path/to/bro/dist
+    [... cmake output ...]
+
+Now our ``rot13-plugin`` directory has everything that it needs
+for Bro to recognize it as a dynamic plugin. Once we point Bro to it,
+it will pull it in automatically, as we can check with the ``-N``
+option:
+
+    # export BRO_PLUGIN_PATH=/path/to/rot13-plugin
+    # bro -N
+    [...]
+    Plugin: Demo::Rot13 - <Insert brief description of plugin> (dynamic, version 1)
+    [...]
+
+That looks quite good, except for the dummy description that we should
+replace with something nicer so that users will know what our plugin
+is about.  We do this by editing the ``BRO_PLUGIN_DESCRIPTION`` line
+in ``src/Plugin.cc``, like this:
+
+    # cat src/Plugin.cc
+
+    #include <plugin/Plugin.h>
+    
+    BRO_PLUGIN_BEGIN(Demo, Rot13)
+        BRO_PLUGIN_VERSION(1);
+        BRO_PLUGIN_DESCRIPTION("Caesar cipher rotating a string's characters by 13 places.");
+        BRO_PLUGIN_BIF_FILE(consts);
+        BRO_PLUGIN_BIF_FILE(events);
+        BRO_PLUGIN_BIF_FILE(functions);
+    BRO_PLUGIN_END
+
+    # make
+    [...]
+    # bro -N | grep Rot13
+    Plugin: Demo::Rot13 - Caesar cipher rotating a string's characters by 13 places. (dynamic, version 1)
+
+Better. Bro can also show us what exactly the plugin provides with the
+more verbose option ``-NN``::
+
+    # bro -NN
+    [...]
+    Plugin: Demo::Rot13 - Caesar cipher rotating a string's characters by 13 places. (dynamic, version 1)
+        [Function] CaesarCipher::rot13
+    [...]
+
+There's our function. Now let's use it::
+
+    # bro -e 'print CaesarCipher::rot13("Hello")'
+    Uryyb
+
+It works. We next install the plugin along with Bro itself, so that it
+will find it directly without needing the ``BRO_PLUGIN_PATH``
+environment variable. If we first unset the variable, the function
+will no longer be available::
+
+    # unset BRO_PLUGIN_PATH
+    # bro -e 'print CaesarCipher::rot13("Hello")'
+    error in <command line>, line 1: unknown identifier CaesarCipher::rot13, at or near "CaesarCipher::rot13"
+
+Once we install it, it works again::
+
+    # make install
+    # bro -e 'print CaesarCipher::rot13("Hello")'
+    Uryyb
+
+The installed version went into
+``<bro-install-prefix>/lib/bro/plugins/Demo_Rot13``.
+
+We can distribute the plugin in either source or binary form by using
+the Makefile's ``sdist`` and ``bdist`` target, respectively. Both
+create corrsponding tarballs::
+
+    # make sdist
+    [...]
+    Source distribution in build/sdist/Demo_Rot13.tar.gz
+
+    # make bdist
+    [...]
+    Binary distribution in build/Demo_Rot13-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz
+
+The source archive will contain everything in the plugin directory
+except any generated files. The binary archive will contain anything
+needed to install and run the plugin, i.e., just what ``make install``
+puts into place as well. As the binary distribution is
+platform-dependent, its name includes the OS and architecture the
+plugin was built on.
+
+Plugin Directory Layout
+=======================
+
+A plugin's directory needs to follow a set of conventions so that Bro
+(1) recognizes it as a plugin, and (2) knows what to load.  While
+``init-plugin`` takes care of most of this, the following is the full
+story. We'll use ``<base>`` to represent a plugin's top-level
+directory.
+
+``<base>/__bro_plugin__``
+    A file that marks a directory as containing a Bro plugin. The file
+    must exist, and its content must consist of a single line with the
+    qualified name of the plugin (e.g., "Demo::Rot13").  
+
+``<base>/lib/<plugin-name>-<os>-<arch>.so``
+    The shared library containing the plugin's compiled code. Bro will
+    load this in dynamically at run-time if OS and architecture match
+    the current platform.
+
+``lib/bif/``
+    Directory with auto-generated Bro scripts that declare the plugins
+    bif elements. The files here are produced by ``bifcl``.
+
+``scripts/``
+    A directory with the plugin's custom Bro scripts. When the plugin
+    gets activated, this directory will be automatically added to
+    ``BROPATH``, so that any scripts/modules inside can be
+    ``@load``ed. 
+
+``scripts``/__load__.bro
+    A Bro script that will be loaded immediately when the plugin gets
+    activated. See below for more information on activating plugins.
+
+By convention, a plugin should put its custom scripts into sub folders
+of ``scripts/``, i.e., ``scripts/<script-namespace>/<script>.bro`` to
+avoid conflicts. As usual, you can then put a ``__load__.bro`` in
+there as well so that, e.g., ``@load Demo/Rot13`` could load a whole
+module in the form of multiple individual scripts.
+
+Note that in addition to the paths above, the ``init-plugin`` helper
+puts some more files and directories in place that help with
+development and installation (e.g., ``CMakeLists.txt``, ``Makefile``,
+and source code in ``src/``). However, all these do not have a special
+meaning for Bro at runtime and aren't necessary for a plugin to
+function.
+
+``init-plugin``
+===============
+
+``init-plugin`` puts a basic plugin structure in place that follows
+the above layout and augments it with a CMake build and installation
+system. Note that plugins with this structure can be used both
+directly out of their source directory (after ``make`` and setting
+Bro's ``BRO_PLUGIN_PATH``), and when installed alongside Bro (after
+``make install``).
+
+``make install`` copies over the ``lib`` and ``scripts`` directories,
+as well as the ``__bro_plugin__`` magic file and the ``README`` (which
+you should customize). One can add further CMake ``install`` rules to
+install additional files if neeed.
+
+.. todo::
+
+    Describe the other files that the script puts in place.
+
+Activating a Plugin
+===================
+
+A plugin needs to be *activated* to make it available to the user.
+Activating a plugin will:
+
+    1. Load the dynamic module
+    2. Make any bif items available
+    3. Add the ``scripts/`` directory to ``BROPATH``
+    4. Load ``scripts/__load__.bro``
+
+By default, Bro will automatically activate all dynamic plugins found
+in its search path ``BRO_PLUGIN_PATH``. However, in bare mode (``bro
+-b``), no dynamic plugins will be activated by default; instead the
+user can selectively enable individual plugins in scriptland using the
+``@load-plugin <qualified-plugin-name>`` directive (e.g.,
+``@load-plugin Demo::Rot13``).
+
+``bro -N`` shows activated and found yet unactivated plugins
+separately. Note that plugins compiled statically into Bro are always
+activated, and hence show up as such even in bare mode.
+
+.. todo::
+
+    Is this the right activation model?
+
+
+Plugin Component
+================
+
+The following gives additional information about providing individual
+types of functionality via plugins. Note that a single plugin can
+provide more than one type. For example, a plugin could provide
+multiple protocol analyzers at once; or both a logging backend and
+input reader at the same time.
+
+We now walk briefly through the specifics of providing a specific type
+of functionality (a *component*) through plugin. We'll focus on their
+interfaces to the plugin system, rather than specifics on writing the
+corresponding logic (usually the best way to get going on that is to
+start with an existing plugin providing a corresponding component and
+adapt that). We'll also point out how the CMake infrastructure put in
+place by the ``init-plugin`` helper script ties the various pieces
+together.
+
+Bro Scripts
+-----------
+
+Scripts are easy: just put them into ``scripts/``, as described above.
+The CMake infrastructure will automatically install them, as well
+include them into the source and binary plugin distributions.
+
+Builtin Language Elements
+-------------------------
+
+Functions
+    TODO
+
+Events
+    TODO
+
+Types
+    TODO
+
+Protocol Analyzers
+------------------
+
+TODO.
+
+File Analyzers
+--------------
+
+TODO.
+
+Logging Writer
+--------------
+
+Not yet implemented.
+
+Input Reader
+------------
+
+Not yet implemented.
+
+Packet Sources
+--------------
+
+Not yet implemented.
+
+Packet Dumpers
+--------------
+
+Not yet implemented.
+
+Documenting Plugins
+===================
+
+..todo::
+
+    Integrate all this with Broxygen.
+
+
+