MTR-NG - Modern My Traceroute in Rust

A modern, feature-rich implementation of My Traceroute (MTR) built in Rust, offering real-time network path visualization with enhanced sparklines, jitter analysis, and advanced column customization.

Features

Core Network Analysis

• Real-time Path Tracing: Live network path discovery and monitoring
• RTT Statistics: Min/Max/Average/EMA (Exponential Moving Average) calculations
• Packet Loss Detection: Accurate loss percentage tracking per hop
• Jitter Analysis: Last jitter and average jitter measurements for network stability

Advanced Visualization

• Unicode Sparklines: Beautiful real-time RTT history visualization (▁▂▂▆█▄▂▃▂▁)
• Color-coded Metrics: Green (good) → Yellow (warning) → Red (problematic)
• Customizable Columns: Select exactly which metrics to display
• Scalable Display: Auto-scaling sparklines with manual override options

Column Selection System

• Flexible Fields: Choose from 12 available metrics
  • hop, host, loss, sent, last, avg, ema
  • jitter, jitter-avg, best, worst, graph
• Quick Presets: --show-all for complete metrics, custom combinations via --fields
• Interactive Toggle: Press f key in interactive mode to cycle columns
• Report Mode: Same column selection works for both interactive and report output

Interface Modes

• Interactive UI: Real-time terminal interface with keyboard controls
• Report Mode: Clean output for automation and scripting
• Colorblind Friendly: Accessible color schemes for all users

Performance & Compatibility

• Efficient Async: Built with Tokio for high-performance networking
• Cross-platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows
• IPv4 Support: Robust IP address handling and DNS resolution
• Terminal Detection: Automatic capability detection and graceful fallbacks

Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

# Unix/Linux/macOS one-liner
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/edejong-dbc/mtr-ng/main/install/install.sh | bash

Package Managers

Homebrew (macOS)

# Option 1: Using the tap (recommended)
brew tap edejong-dbc/tap
brew install mtr-ng

# Option 2: Direct install without adding tap
brew install edejong-dbc/tap/mtr-ng

Cargo (Rust)

cargo install mtr-ng

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S mtr-ng

Debian/Ubuntu

Download the .deb package from releases:

sudo dpkg -i mtr-ng_*.deb

From Source

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/edejong-dbc/mtr-ng
cd mtr-ng
cargo build --release

# Install
sudo cp target/release/mtr-ng /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp install/mtr-ng.1 /usr/local/share/man/man1/

Usage Examples

Basic Usage

# Standard trace with default columns
mtr-ng google.com

# Show all available metrics
mtr-ng google.com --show-all

# Custom column selection
mtr-ng google.com --fields hop,host,loss,last,avg,graph

# Focus on jitter analysis  
mtr-ng google.com --fields hop,host,jitter,jitter-avg,graph

Interactive Mode

# Real-time monitoring with keyboard controls
mtr-ng google.com

# Controls:
# q/Esc - Quit
# r     - Reset statistics  
# s     - Toggle sparkline scale
# c     - Cycle color modes
# f     - Toggle column visibility

Report Mode

# Generate report output
mtr-ng google.com --report

# Automation-friendly format
mtr-ng google.com --report --fields hop,host,loss,avg > network_report.txt

Advanced Features

Simulation Mode (No Sudo Required!)

For development, testing, and demo purposes, MTR-NG includes a comprehensive simulation mode:

# Test without requiring administrator privileges
mtr-ng google.com --simulate

# Quick test in report mode
mtr-ng google.com --simulate --count 3 --report

# Test all protocols in simulation
mtr-ng google.com --simulate -P icmp
mtr-ng google.com --simulate -P udp  
mtr-ng google.com --simulate -P tcp

Perfect for:

• Development and debugging
• CI/CD pipelines
• Testing on restricted systems
• Educational demonstrations
• Validating UI and statistics logic

Sparkline Visualization

MTR-NG provides beautiful Unicode sparklines showing RTT history:

• ▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ - Visual representation of network performance
• Color coding: Green (fast) → Yellow (moderate) → Red (slow)
• Real-time updates as packets are sent/received

Jitter Analysis

Monitor network stability with comprehensive jitter metrics:

• Last Jitter: Most recent RTT variation
• Average Jitter: Long-term jitter trends
• Helps identify unstable network segments

Column Reference

Column	Description	Example
hop	Hop number	1
host	Hostname/IP address	gateway.local
loss	Packet loss percentage	2.0%
sent	Packets sent	10
last	Most recent RTT	15.2ms
avg	Average RTT	18.4ms
ema	Exponential moving average	17.8ms
jitter	Last jitter value	2.1ms
jitter-avg	Average jitter	1.8ms
best	Minimum RTT observed	12.1ms
worst	Maximum RTT observed	45.2ms
graph	RTT sparkline visualization	▁▂▄▇▆▃▁

Development Status

MTR-NG is actively developed with focus on:

• Stable Core: Reliable network tracing and statistics
• Rich Visualization: Unicode sparklines and color coding
• Column Flexibility: Complete customization system
• Interactive UI: Real-time monitoring with controls
• IPv6 Support: Next-generation protocol support (planned)

Development & Testing

Easy Testing (No Sudo Required)

MTR-NG provides comprehensive testing tools that work without administrator privileges:

# Quick start - test simulation mode
cargo run -- --simulate --count 3 --report google.com

# Run all unit tests
cargo test

# Use automated testing tools
./scripts/test-dev.sh test-all     # Shell script
just ci                           # Or with 'just' task runner

Testing Documentation: See TESTING.md for comprehensive testing guide.

Development Tools

The project includes several convenience tools:

• justfile - Modern task runner with development commands
• scripts/test-dev.sh - Shell script for common testing tasks
• Simulation mode - Test all functionality without network access
• Comprehensive unit test suite covering all components

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Areas of interest:

• Terminal graphics and visualization improvements
• IPv6 protocol support
• Additional statistical metrics
• Platform-specific optimizations

Getting Started: All development can be done without sudo using simulation mode - see TESTING.md.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

edejong-dbc/homebrew-tap

This is a Homebrew tap for mtr-ng, a modern implementation of My Traceroute with real-time network path visualization.

Installation

# Add the tap
brew tap edejong-dbc/tap

# Install mtr-ng
brew install mtr-ng

Usage

# Basic usage (requires sudo for raw socket access)
sudo mtr-ng google.com

# Show all metrics with sparklines
sudo mtr-ng google.com --show-all

# Generate a report
mtr-ng google.com --report --count 10

About mtr-ng

MTR-NG is a modern, feature-rich implementation of My Traceroute (MTR) that provides:

• Real-time network path visualization with Unicode sparklines
• Comprehensive RTT statistics and jitter analysis
• Customizable column display and interactive controls
• Cross-platform support with colorblind-friendly design

For more information, visit the main repository.