Graphical Traceroute with Map from Repository

Question

It seems like xt (xtraceroute) has been dropped from the repository, does anyone know of another graphical traceroute program in the main repos which draws maps? If not, then a loose deb package will do, or a PPA.

Solution 1

Try Open Visual Traceroute. Available on Sourceforge. It uses Java and works well in Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04.

1. Install Oracle Java 7 JRE

• Open Visual Traceroute requires Oracle Java 6 JRE or newer to be installed.
• The easiest way I have found is to install Java on Ubuntu is via the Web Upd8 PPA .
• First add the PPA. Open a Terminal Window and enter :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update

• A good idea to minimise any Java conflicts is to remove OpenJDK.  open a Terminal Window and enter :

sudo apt-get remove --purge openjdk*

• To install Oracle Java 7 version and make sure gksu is installed (removed from Ubuntu 13.04) open a Terminal Window and enter :

sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer gksu

• Tip: Top check the Java version installed on your system open a terminal and enter :

java -version

2. Download and install Open Visual Traceroute

• Open the Terminal window and enter :

mkdir /tmp/OpenVisualTraceRoute
cd /tmp/OpenVisualTraceRoute

• Then for 32bit and 64bit systems download and install the latest version with :

wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/openvisualtrace/files/latest/download
sudo unzip download -d /opt/

• Extract the application icon to be used for the launcher and set permissions with :

cd /opt/OpenVisualTraceRoute*
sudo unzip -j org.leo.traceroute.jar */internet.png
sudo chmod +x startLinux.sh

3. Create an Open Visual Traceroute launcher

• To create a Ubuntu Unity Desktop Launcher, create a desktop launcher file with :

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/open-visual-traceroute.desktop

• Then add the following information and save :

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Open Visual Traceroute
Version=1.3.1
GenericName=Open Visual Traceroute
X-GNOME-FullName=Open Visual Traceroute
Comment=Open Visual Traceroute
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Utility;
Exec=gksudo /bin/sh startLinux.sh
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true
TargetEnvironment=Unity

• Then add the path to the latest version and icon in the launcher with:

cd /opt/OpenVisualTraceRoute*
sudo su
echo "Path=$(eval pwd)" >> /usr/share/applications/open-visual-traceroute.desktop
echo "Icon=$(eval pwd)/internet.png" >> /usr/share/applications/open-visual-traceroute.desktop
exit

• You will then be able to search for Open Visual Traceroute in your unity dash and launch the application.

Original install guide can be found here : http://www.thefanclub.co.za/how-to/how-install-open-visual-traceroute-ubuntu

Solution 2

Package/binary mtr does what you need. By default (I think), Ubuntu has mtr-tiny installed.

It should start with a GTK window, but you can always invoke it with mtr --gtk or mtr -- curses to specify what you want.

Comments

[Manav]

vtrace.mx4492.in is a little online tool I hacked together as an alternative. See if that serves your purpose.

[Jeremy]

Awesomely handy though, I didn't know that came in the base install.

[Scaine]

By default, only mtr-tiny is installed, which has no gtk support. Issue "sudo apt-get install mtr" to remove this and install the full package. Running mtr at this point will invoke the gtk interface. But no maps, and I couldn't get it to actually work...

[Mayura]

I needed mtr to work with CLI, but in my case mtr command was by default spawning GTK version. So, i removed mtr and installed mtr-tiny, my purpose of using CLI with mtr served with package mtr-tiny :) thank you for the clarification between mtr-tiny and GTK version.