---
name: "massagevendor"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "arpwatch"
version: "2.1a15-9"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/massagevendor"
---

# massagevendor(8)

convert the ethernet vendor codes master list to arpwatch format

## NAME

massagevendor - convert the ethernet vendor codes master list to arpwatch format

## SYNOPSIS

massagevendor *vendorfile*

## DESCRIPTION

**massagevendor** is a program that converts a text file containing ethernet vendor codes into a format suitable for use by **[arpwatch(8)](/arpwatch/8.md)** and **[arpsnmp(8)](/arpsnmp/8.md).** The input *vendorfile* is a master text file containing vendor codes. The output is sent to *stdout.* Each line of the *vendorfile* is expected to have a six digit hexadecimal vendor code followed by spaces followed by the name of the manufacturer.

All ethernet devices have a unique identifier which includes a vendor code specifying the manufacturer of the device. In normal operation **[arpwatch(8)](/arpwatch/8.md)** and **[arpsnmp(8)](/arpsnmp/8.md)** use the file *ethercodes.dat* to report this vendor code. **massagevendor** is used to generate the *ethercodes.dat* file from text files containing these vendor codes.

Locations where an ethernet vendor codes master text file can be obtained are given below.

## FILES

```
/usr/share/arpwatch - default location of the ethernet vendor list
ethercodes.dat - file containing the list of ethernet vendor codes
```

## SEE ALSO

**[arpwatch(8)](/arpwatch/8.md),** **[arpsnmp(8)](/arpsnmp/8.md)**

## NOTES

Sources for ethernet vendor codes seen in the wild are

```
http://map-ne.com/Ethernet/vendor.html
ftp://ftp.cavebear.com/pub/Ethernet.txt
http://www.cavebear.com/CaveBear/Ethernet/vendor.html
```

Useful for comparison or completeness are the ethernet vendor codes as assigned by the IEEE which can be found at

*http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/oui/oui.txt*

## BUGS

Please send bug reports to arpwatch@ee.lbl.gov.

## AUTHORS

Craig Leres of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Network Research Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

The current version is available via anonymous ftp:

*ftp://ftp.ee.lbl.gov/arpwatch.tar.gz*

This manual page was contributed by Hugo Graumann.